


Iced Steel

by Drakka



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-02 03:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 50,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14535696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakka/pseuds/Drakka
Summary: A world of Dragons and steel, and those who watch the Dragon's backs, their "Tails".





	Iced Steel

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a challenge and I made up the plot as I went, and don't plan to publish this, so please be kind!

Shapes of all kinds, two-legged and four-legged and more, stumbled into the Incubator. One shape in particular lagged behind, stumbling on his hands and knees and spitting out a desperate, “Wait!” as the other, faster shapes started to leave him all alone. “Stop! I can't run that fast!” His voice was young, high pitched and not helped at all by the desperation that started to cloud his original voice in shrieks and squealing.  
He couldn't be late, not today, what if they missed him? Made him wait another year? Egg Day was special, for more than one reason. For one, he wouldn't be a hatchling, he'd be a boy! He lived twenty seasons, he wasn't waiting four more just to get a stupid Egg! Even in his rush, the boy paused a moment to tug at his own hair, dark like bark and standing out immensely with his near untouched by the sun skin. He shouldn't think like that! Egg Day was special, very special! Today, he'd be getting his best friend forever! That wasn't stupid! That was amazing! But it wouldn't be amazing if he missed the Egg in the Incubator!  
Dignity stopped being a priority for the young boy, and he lunged forward on all fours. The skies above knew he couldn't even pretend to run fast, but climbing? He was almost a lizard! He knew, the hatchlings called him one, and he knew it was a compliment! He'd show it too! He was going to climb the dens and beat everybody to The Incubator, just they watch! The rock creaked under his grip and the tree crackled as he slithered under its reaching branches, feeling its steel grip at his shirt and nearly trap him right there and then, but he pulled through. Exhausted, but he pulled through. Was it clear he was exhausted? One stupidly placed hand, and he proceeded into a tumble that would no doubt send him back down his ill advised shortcut, or it would have, should an iron grin not clasped around the back of his neck and haul him up.  
“Hi Leo.” He mumbled, swinging from the other boy's hand like freshly caught prey. Instantly, shame overcame his awkwardness, and he collapsed into an apologetic mess. “I-I am so sorry for-for d-disrupting a Tail! Forgive me!” Another hand placed on his head, and a quick touch on his forehead forced him to look up, and be greeted with a smile like the sunlight, bright and dangerous to look straight at. “Not even a good morning? Come on Thorne, you don't need to be that formal!” The other boy bared his teeth wider in his smile, threw his head back, light hair about the same color as the sun he seemed to embody flicking in his face, and laughed heartily. Had he not been currently holding the boy, Thorne, it would still be obvious his age had quite some lead on Thorne's. The beginnings of muscle creeped along his chest, and had already emerged in his arms, no doubt awakened by working as a Tail, not to mention his voice leaped between a boyish voice and the highness that currently plagued Thorne's.  
Mercifully, Leo finally set down the other boy, hissing a chuckle through his teeth. He seemed to expect something more, and barked out a confused note as Thorne suddenly launched off his heels and continued in his desperate dash toward the Incubator. He was just starting to see the spikes upon its head, spewing forth gaseous black, when another presence started jogging beside him. “Where we going?” Leo tilted his head down at Thorne with a bemused expression that made Thorne's face flush red and he puffed out, “You're not dumb! Don’t act dumb! It’s Egg Day!” He paused only long enough for Leo to voice a noncommittal, “Oh yeah…” and pitched forward in his yelling rant, “If I don't get there, they might throw my Egg! I can't let that happen, I don’t want to be a hatchling, I wanna be a Tail!” If Leo was feeling any other emotion than amusement, he wasn't showing it, humming blankly into the air before placing a hand on Thorne's back and nearly flinging him to the ground with a gentle shove, “Well, let's get going then! I’m on a break, and if I fly with Og again, I think he might just bite my head off!” Unlike Leo, Thorne's emotions showed clearly on his face. Another baring of teeth into a smile, even if Leo wasn't one of the hatchlings his age, he was glad he'd have somebody there completely on his side.  
Thorne almost threw himself into the entrance of the Incubator, nearly necessitating another rescue by Leo as he almost tumbled straight into the Egg pit. Trying to mask his breathing at the stares of the other hatchlings, who didn't look worse for wear at what they had considered a short run, Thorne sat himself heavily at the walls. Leo didn’t enter completely, it wasn’t his day, he already had one, he’d be hissed out if he attempted some kind of interference, although Thorne wished he could at least sit beside him. Nonetheless, he steeled his scarlet face and forced himself to be silent. He could hear an Egg coming, rattling around somewhere unseen. It took a horribly long time, as if it knew it was a deciding factor in the young hatchlings lives. Until, suddenly, it was there. Smoking and letting out a heat wave that started to consume the previously cool air. Screws stuck out at random, mixing in with the clean eggshell and green complexion. It was clearly ready to hatch, it just needed the pull of its other half, a half that happened to not belong to Thorne. It only took a few seconds to ascertain this, while his heart had raced upon its appearance, it died down easily enough. He felt nothing, this wasn’t his egg, it wasn’t his friend…but it was apparently somebody else's.  
A little girl spring from her seat, sliding down into the pit with a cry as if the Egg might vanish if it laid there any longer. Thorne thought he knew her, just a little, maybe her name was May? Either way, the girl grasped the Egg, nearly half her size, and hugged it to her chest. It clicked. Instinctively, Thorne leaned forward, already knowing what was next but eager to see it for himself. The Egg unfurled in the girl's hands, a small gasp from the steadily forming being. A much louder show of breath came from above, where the bigger figures watched and sighed. The creature yawned open a metal mouth, composition yet to be discovered, and set two legs on the girl's neck, bright blue, clean eyes looking the girl straight in the face. Green decorated its back, giving way to a surprising red once it reached its belly. Currently, it was sparsely adorned, and except for a pair of double tails, Thorne could see nothing special with it, and stifled his disappointment, maybe it would grow? And then its wings opened, tendril appendages that waved in the air before unfurling completely, covered in fine hairs that covered the rest of its body, but clicking and shifting in a mechanical way. “He's called Garm!” The girl yelled, hugging the newborn close. The first Dragon was born.  
Then it was the next, a slithering thing with metal plating upon its back with equally metallic wings. Then their was an eight-legged thing with two pairs of wings and a thin spindly mouth. And then the next. And the next. Thorne felt no pull, nothing at all, and started to hug his knees to his chest. Everybody was finding their Eggs, even if some garnered no reaction and got tossed out, everybody still got an Egg. What if he missed his and let it be thrown out? Or was he some kind of defect, defective like his running, destined to never have an Egg? He didn't care that it never happened before, it could still happen to him! Just as he started to tear up, noting Leo's worried expression, his heart felt like it got yanked to his throat. It’s mine, I know it! Before the Egg had even fallen, he was already crawling into the pit, arms outstretched to catch the precious friend. He caught a flash of silver before it collided with him, and clicks announced his bond to it. Flat on the ground, he raised the Dragon above him, eyes shimmering in near tears. This was his Dragon. The little creature might have resembled a bat had it not been for the silver lining its underside and long neck and tail, mouth reptilian and revealing a metal tongue as it yawned upon its awakening. It only had two legs, ending in curled talons it kept against its belly, the little Dragon attempting to seemingly curl itself away from the world. Its wings, originating from where he expected its front legs to be, made this difficult, colliding against its human's face before it gave up and looked down at Thorne. He blinked at the pitch black, clean eyes, it was very unclean, wasn’t it? Except for its eyes. No, except for her eyes. The information flickered in his head instantly, definite proof of his bond to his forever best friend. Before he could even begin to contain the overflowing joy in his chest, he let loose a visceral whoop and leaned his head back at Leo, only needing to see his own smile before he boasted a joyous announcement into the air. “Her name is Hana! My Dragon's name is Hana!”  
–  
But that wasn't important anymore, that was the past, and he was grown now. A proper Tail now, finally. Despite the fact that he had supposedly become an actual little boy once he hatched Hana, the following seasons had been utterly boring. No wonder why, Hana couldn’t carry him up in the skies above until now, but that still didn’t excuse torturing them with information that he doubted he'd ever use. Why he had to know how weather affected Dragons was idiotic, it was common sense not to fly in rain or snow, who didn't know that? Or what to eat, obviously anything unclean or ticking was not for human consumption! It was far more interesting to learn about the Rocs, Golems, and other Dragon-like beings living outside the safety of the dens, but of course that was rarely focused on…mostly because nobody really knew what they were. Today was the day they all left this behind, and flew. To watch their Dragon's back, and feed everybody, maybe find another den if they were lucky. As such, Thorne already woke with a considerable fire in his eyes. The boy hadn't grown all that impressively to be prudent, but he was still proud over the lean muscle that lined his legs, more so than the other young Tails, it felt nice to be better at something than them. His voice wasn’t much better, but he took pride in the fact he was starting to able to train his voice to be lower, it was a necessary skill. The sudden awakening of the human, who quite suddenly started clearing the walls of various shimmering rocks and the like, woke the other presence in the room, who leapt across the cavern right onto Thorne's back. “Hana!” He shouted under her bulk, “We're too big for this! I can’t even win anymore!” Indeed he couldn’t, wiggling under the Dragon that was now big enough to nearly get stuck when they crawled out of their den, thankfully they’d be moving to their new den, if the playful Dragon got off his back! Without warning, he raised his hand and pinched her, right on one of her toes, and burst out laughing as she squawked and sprung away. For a creature that could probably tear him in half, she sure didn't like it when he so much as pinched her.  
With a start, he resumed his subdued packing. “Sorry Hana, we can’t play today. No. No we can’t.” His voice started to rise as the creature scrambled forward with her mouth half parted, clearly disregarding his words. At the last second, he dove under her pounce, well aware that her obvious movements were simply because she was playing, and took off in a full tilt run to the entrance. Hana let loose a harrumph behind him and, giving up on her plans for today, folded her wings tightly to her sides and followed. Normally, the knowledge that something far larger than him was following him in a tiny space would terrify Thorne, but this was normal. His lizard-like scrambling hadn’t changed, and he navigated the dim tunnels in careful normality. Hana was much clumsier, she always was, at least on the ground, she was never graceful. He perched upon an outcropping of rock and called encouragement as she managed to get the tip of her wing stuck in a crack, waiting patiently as she pulled herself backwards and thus, free. It was a cycle they’d repeated since she gotten bigger and bigger. They weren't alone in the tunnels either, Garm rushed through the passage in front of them, the girl that Thorne had found was named May, reddish hair whipping into her squint-eyed face, hanging on valiantly to her Dragon's tail, it seemed he knew the path. He waved in a subdued manner, and she was gone before they had even exchanged pleasantries. It didn’t disappoint him, they were acquaintances, not friends, he’d much rather hang out with Leo.  
The sounds of running Dragons and people followed them all the way outside, but they had no other encounters save for the duo of Garm and May. Outside, once again, everything was moving. Humans carried valuables, clean meat and plants, on their backs and carted it to their desired destinations, mostly the hatchlings dens. If Thorne wanted food, he’d have to go and get it himself, fair enough, and he started a light jog toward the center of all the dens. It never got named by the Longtails, so Thorne just called it the Center whenever he needed to tell Hana where to go. They didn’t have much time left, but they still had to eat! Hana tumbled into the lowered Center first, falling chin-first and then awaiting Thorne's decent with a swinging tail, lowering her head to catch him though he had his slide under control. The Center was a strange matrimony between chaos and peace, appearing completely out of control, what with Dragon’s snatching up life poultry between their jaws and the humans not much better save for the fact that they cooked their food, but Thorne knew better. There was the gashes in the metal, scratches that resembled the food on display, and little marks next to the picture. Dragon scratches, ordered by their humans, counting how much food of each type was being taken. From what Thorne saw, there was no limit on what you took, but the skies didn't look kindly upon the boys and girls who didn’t replace the food they took or, winds forbid, lied on what they took. He let Hana loose upon the Tic-tic cages, where the wriggling meaty morsels deemed well enough to eat were set out for Dragon's pleasure. Hana was big enough to get her fill without him there, and Thorne was proud to know she was honest enough to mark what she had taken on the rocks. He himself preferred the growing Season Fruit. Today they were a red, small fruit that fit in the palm of his hand, he took six.  
Again, he wasn’t alone, and felt a rush of glee as Leo appeared in his line of sight. Sparing a glance over to Hana, who was busy trapping at least three of the Tic-tics in her wings, Thorne bounded over to the newly made Longtail. He didn’t waste any time, lunging forward in a fierce hug that forced a small yelp from the larger boy, or was it a man now? “Leo, hey, Leo! Guess what?” He babbled as he was nearly swung off the ground as the boy turned in an attempt to spot his affectionate attacker, “I’m flying today, are you gonna watch?” Finally, he was wrenched off, bouncing on his heels as he beamed up at his friend. Unlike him, Leo had changed, mostly in size. He was taller, his hair was long, and Thorne had felt obvious toughness in his body when he hugged him. But it still felt like the sun when Leo smiled! Which he was, which made the young Tail's heart soar, “’Course I am! Wouldn’t miss Hana's flight for the world!” He said it and Thorne knew it was true, everything Leo said was true, an honest Longtail and a friend. “Great! Ooh, and sorry for hugging you I know I shouldn’t do that to a Longtail or call you by your name but I’ll fix that, just you wait! And Hana is gonna eat too much if she thinks I’m with you, so sorry but I have to go now, Leo, er, sir! Bye!” If Leo was put off by the babbling boy, he didn’t show it, waving with his usual smile as his other hand fished around in some rock bowl for food.  
Thorne vanished from sight quickly, ducking under arms and outstretched necks and coming upon Hana, who was diligently stuffing a fifth Tic-tic in her mouth. “Hana! You're gonna make yourself sick!” He grumbled, unable to do anything as she gulped it down and lowered her head, she was feeling no shame at all, Thorne could feel it, and he puffed in faux anger, “Geez, you better fly good today.” Suddenly, not unlike how he had tackle-hugged Leo, something collided with his own back. “Sorry!” A shrill voice burst right into his ear, and he stumbled away, instinctively taking refuge under Hana and forcing a frown to vanish from his expression. It was Garm, May still flying high on his tail, the other wagging furiously in the clamor of the Center. “It’s fine.” He mumbled in a definite change from his interaction with Leo, voice nearly lost in all the noise. It was certainly not fine, if Garm's tail had hit him, that was definitely going to bruise over later, but he didn’t feel a confrontation with somebody who had already apologized would make Leo happy with him, so he just added a pointed, “Don’t let it happen again.”  
It didn’t help that he knew this wasn’t going to be the only meeting between them. Young Tails were assigned together, safety purposes and all that, and Leo had leaked to him that May was on his group. He prayed that Garm was a better worker than what he saw from the Dragon, other than being nearly twice Hana's size, he still wasn’t seeing a work ready Dragon. Too perky, hadn’t even breathed Dragonflame yet. With a heavy sigh, he diminished these thoughts, Leo would call him a meanie, which he was not, and May couldn’t be that bad, even if her Dragon was flighty. Hana hadn’t breath Dragonflame yet either. Besides, at least he knew her, the other two group members he was flying with were Winter and Patches, who escaped his memory. Hopefully they were as work ready as he was. As Garm descended upon the food source, Thorne restarted his job toward the outward dens, hauling himself over obstacles and nearly leaving his comparatively slower Dragon in his dust. Despite the fact that his side still ached, his excitement refused to falter, and he arrived at the outreaching of the dens, where the Longtails lived, with energy that threatened to have him burst. The new Tails weren’t far behind, and his chest swelled as he realized he was one of the first to arrive, now he showed them he was work ready! Still didn’t stop him from breaking his dignity to return a wave as May arrived, it was so eager, he’d feel bad if he left her greeting unanswered.  
Nonetheless, everybody halted when one of the Longtail’s voices boomed, a woman, huge in comparison to them. “Ok, ok, listen up!” Again, Thorne shrunk under Hana, noting with some relief that his reaction wasn’t unique. “You all know why you’re here, we all know why you’re here, so let’s cut the chatter, right?” The Tails were dead silent, until one pale-haired youth mumbled “Yes?” The woman nodded as if this was the best agreement she could have gotten, and opened her mouth to continue…until Leo swooped in front of her, smile looking more like a painting than something real. “That was an…intriguing introduction, Ursa, I-I'm just going to…ahem! Let’s start, why don’t we?” Thorne could practically feel flame from the woman's, Ursa, as her introduction was stolen from her, but she quickly got back in the swing of things as Leo's voice faltered. “Right! Thank you, Leo. You. Boy! Bring your group, you guys are coming with me!” Thorne clenched his hands behind his back, looking straight down. Maybe if he didn’t look at her, she wasn’t pointing toward him? Only thing was, Hana didn’t know that, and hit him on the back with his snout, announcing that, yes, they were the ones picked by this scary woman. Did she know he knew his partners for today? No sense hiding it then. “C-come on, May! Winter! Patches!” He barked hurriedly, trying in vain not to let a blush run up his cheeks as many pairs of eyes turned to him, and leaped forward to stand at Ursa's side. Naturally, it took his own group a few moments to process he had even called them, a scenario that made Thorne face darken, not in embarrassment this time, but in anger as the seconds ticked by. Then they moved. A pale-haired youth, the same one that had pointlessly answered, Thorne blinked momentarily before concluding that this must be Winter. “Greetings.” The voice almost baffled Thorne, and it took him a few seconds to conclude the voice was another girl. “Short and to the point! Fantastic!” Winter blushed at the sudden praise, and was quickly covered by her Dragon, an insectoid beast who’s face was locked in a blank-eyed stare and thin mouth, it made Thorne’s heart race slightly but it was clearly still affectionate, shielding its vulnerable human from view as her voice snaked out from its bulk, “Oh, Wisk here is called…Wisk. Say hello.” Thorne looked up as the Dragon ominously rumbled and hovered its head above him, “H-hi.” Hana hadn't been deterred, and squealed in glee, parting her mouth in greeting.  
Patches resembled his name, skin and hair fluctuating between a starting brown or black, and an even more startling white. His Dragon resembled him, a benign looking being that let out a long drone as it reared on its hind legs, revealing patches of fur on its underside mixed with metallic protrusions. “Hiya, I don’t know who any of you are, but hey. This is Mark, he’s awesome…I think we’re gonna get along great.” The casual tone he took clashed heavily with the nervous air that had started to descend upon the Tails, but not as much as the sudden materialization of Garm, who had somehow avoided their notice before he was suddenly there. Thorne grumbled under his breath as the giant being sat and scratched with its hind legs, “Get that thing under control.” Ursa didn’t seem to mind but this was shameful, you’d think the Dragon was the master here! Surprisingly, May wasn’t clinging to her Dragon's tail anymore, leaving both free to whip up a dust storm that made everybody around Garm squint, though the dust coating her pants and bruise on her hands left Thorne’s imagination to conclude she had fallen off. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! Garm, stop it, we're not playing! U-uh, I’m May, this is Garm…you already knew that, right, ok, hope we can be friends!” Throughout this entire process, Ursa wore the most mask-like expression Thorne had ever seen, she was not like Leo’s mask, at least he looked happy all the time! Suddenly, she ignored the others and jerked her head toward Thorne. “Tail. How did you know who you’d be flying with? I don’t believe we told you until now.” Indeed, the rest of the Tails were still occupied figuring out who they were partnered with, names still being called out. Thorne shrugged noncommittally, avoiding her gaze, “Leo’s my friend, we wouldn’t be friends if he didn’t tell me stu-“ He jumped as he was cut off with her breath right in his face, “You are not “friends”, he’s your protector, everybody’s protector. I swear, that boy has to learn to keep his mouth shut. You can be friends when you’re a Longtail.” She delivered the last morsel of conversation like she expected it to cheer him up, but Thorne stayed mum, pulling his mouth into a thin line. So what Leo wasn’t his age? He was a better friend than everyone.  
If Ursa cared to get an answer, she didn’t pursue the goal, straightening her back and pulling her loop of black hair to ensure it was still in a tie. “We're not going too far out today, you’re young, your Dragons are inexperienced. I’ll protect you all, got it?” The group hastily straightened their own back, stumbling over a “Yes ma'am!” before she chuckled and looked up at the skies, “Well, I won’t be protecting you. Pop! Get over here ya big lug! I see you!” Thorne followed her gaze and gasped as a cloud suddenly broke away from the sky and fell towards them, halting suddenly over Ursa, who hadn’t moved from her position except to offer a hand on the Dragon's nose. At least, Thorne thought it was a nose. The Dragon itself was almost a ball floating in the air, air expelled from its wings that seemed far too small for such a giant keeping it doggedly in the air. All in all, Thorne just saw a living cloud, but the fire in its eyes dispelled any reasoning that it was as soft as a cloud. As Pop appeared, the sky seemed to split apart as Dragons dove from their heights or crawled out of their expert camouflage, joining their Longtails and simply towering over the young Dragons. This time, Hana wasn’t so eager to greet this newcomer, and his her head behind Thorne, who smiled with his mouth closed, not wanting to provoke this creature. He seemed beneath its notice however, and it simply rolled an eye that blinked with foreign light at him before returning to the far greater task of greeting it’s human. “Alright, that’s enough of that.” Ursa pushed away Pop's head and started to walk out of the reaches of the dens, onto rocky ground that swept upwards into a world Thorne hadn’t set foot in yet, that none of them had set foot in. His heart shuddered, and he bit his lips to keep from letting this translate into his outward movements. Ursa barked out one last sentence, tinged with laughter, “And stop hiding behind the boy, the whole lot of you!” Abruptly, a gaggle of movement disturbed Thorne’s thoughts and he looked behind himself just in time to see the other humans and Dragons had taken cover with Hana, red in the face. “You just looked so fine with it.” Patches offered eloquently, beaming in a manner that almost matched the sun of Leo. Winter, however, didn’t even try to justify herself, “We got scared, and you didn’t try to run, so…” A shrug, seemed she was done. May nodded alongside them, clammed up. Thorne snorted and attempted to bark in the same way Ursa had ordered them around, “Get out of there, Pop isn’t scary, there’s a lot scarier things out there! Come on, not behind me!”  
\--  
The boys and girls froze at the top, blinking as they tried to determine exactly what they were even looking at. For one thing, Thorne thought it was very green, like the Season Fruit trees, but far deeper, far more plentiful. They were trees, all around the dens, which he could now see were a sort of bowl in the middle, the Center couldn’t relate. It joined influence over him, if the tunnels were vast, he couldn’t imagine how much more vast it was in comparison, there was even a line in the sky! The horizon? The forest didn’t end at the horizon, he realized with a start, it curved with the sky! Impossible! The sky curved, but the land existed beneath it, where did it go beyond the horizon!? Naturally, with this wonder, came fear. Winter's face was turning the same color as her namesake, alongside Thorne’s losing his color. May took steps forward, then back, the repetitive movement giving away the uncertainty that lied in her eyes. “Hehe-haha! It’s huge! Look guys! I-it’s huge!” Patches loud voice shook the air even more, but even he couldn’t hide the way he trailed off at the end, patting Mark and falling dead silent. “Yes. Huge, enormous, gigantic. All you Tails need to know is that it’s pretty damn big.” Thorne snapped out of his daze, head drawing back at the curse, but focused on the question he was sure was on the other's minds, “But does it have lots of food? Like in the dens?” Now Ursa fell silent, kissing her teeth to her lips before crossing her arms, “Good question, there is plenty of food out there. Now whether us humans can eat it, that’s what we're looking for. And ya know who’s gonna get you to this food?” An incline of her head, and she indicated to an equally marvelous sight as the horizon. Pop, Mark, Garm, Wisk, and finally Hana stood side by side, almost like stone statues, looking beyond the horizon. The illusion broke quickly, with all but Pop rotating their heads around to tilt them at their humans. Thorne’s imagination ran with the thought that they were ready to fly, but he could be wrong, it wasn’t like the Dragon’s could talk. Ursa took a deep breath, and continued at her usual pace, already wandering towards Pop. “You will fly today, you will hunt, you will forage, you will even scavenge. I don’t care whether you do all of those things or even none of them, but I do care about one thing. Watch your Dragon's backs, like true Tails! Now get on! We will learn on the wing!”  
\--  
Thorne didn’t think Ursa, as brazen as she was, was actually serious about this situation being taught on the fly. Turns out, he was dead wrong. Without a word, she was already handing them packs to be strapped to their Dragon’s chests. This wasn’t unusual, they had long since learned how to load up their Dragons for flight, it was easy. No, what was starting to worry Thorne was that she wasn’t saying one word on say, how flying would feel, what dangers to avoid, or even how to fly. “Ahem. Ma'am?” He raised his voice shortly after loading Hana up with leather bags, two on her sides, one under her neck, and he flinched as Ursa jerked upwards, “Could-could I ask. Um, how do we fly?” And now he felt stupid, he must have been stupid, given how she looked at him with a blank expression. The others relaxed instead, clearly glad that he had asked the supposedly stupid question before they could muster up the courage to face humiliation. Resigning himself to retaliation, Thorne lowered his head and prepared to be yelled at. He was still waiting when Ursa answered in a surprisingly neutral tone, “That? Don’t worry boy, you’re gonna fly, and not one lesson from me is gonna help you prepare for it, trust me. You just know.” Well that, wasn’t helpful at all, but at least he wasn’t being yelled at. “Hana,” He mumbled to the side of her head, “Please don’t drop me, ok?” She just snorted, he hoped she knew his request was genuine, and didn’t joke around while they were out there. Noting that they were as prepared as they were going to be, Ursa suddenly sprang up and clung to her Dragon’s shoulder, “Right. On your Dragons!” Thorne scrambled to obey her command, calling for Hana to lower her neck and heaving himself up and over her head, her slick body great for anesthetics, but not to great for getting on her back in the first place. As he managed to get between her arms, he noticed something that made his heart jump to his throat. He was…sticking…to her back, every moment he got closer to being in position making it harder to move away from the position, finally resulting in him pressed close Hana. “W-what's going on? Let go! Ma'am, what is this!?” He called, for another thing had shocked him.  
He could see everywhere. The moment he had become so close to Hana that surely he should have been able to see nothing, he now saw everything, as if he now had eyes on the back of his head, sides, forward, and even under! A shrill squeak and babbling voices spoke that he wasn’t the only one experiencing this phenomenon, he could see them too, their Dragons pulling their heads back to observe their panicking human's predicament. Even Hana nuzzled Thorne as if this were the most normal thing in the world, and he turned his omnipresent sight to see Pop and Ursa in a similar fashion to them, except they were calm as ever. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up!” She bellowed, Pop raising his body and hissing like air escaping, mirroring his mood. Thorne felt Hana flinch away from this sound, he was shocked by it too, and glad she decided to do what he wanted to do, even if he was now stuck to her back. “This is part of flying! Be grateful, you can’t fall off as long as your connected to your Dragon!” What!? They never taught them this!? Hana chattered her claws, rolling them up like he longed to do with his fists, but neither made a sound. Listening sounded like a better gain of information. Not that it stopped the other's Dragons from voicing their human's complaints with a mixture of shrieks, bellows, or in Garm’s case, snarls. Pop and Ursa must have been expecting such a reaction, for Pop let loose a series of barks that Thorne realized with a start that he was identifying as laughter, what in the wide skies was happening to them!? “Relax, you and your Dragons are one and the same, but different. Kinda like how the ground and the sky are wide but one is the bottom of the world, the other is the top! You just happen to be far closer than before, in everything.” Pop started hovering up, but Ursa paid no mind and kept talking, “You are close, and that means you know how your Dragons fly now. I want you to fly, right now, jump.” Thorne's new sight settled on the edge, he knew Hana saw the same thing. A whimper escaped his lips as his now closest partner started to hobble forward, wings raising on each side of him. It felt like there was light in his head, and a terrible shame dimmed them momentarily. Hana was happy, she was so excited, she wanted to fly, and here he was, pulling it back with some stupid fear. His face, though nearly detached from his thoughts, pulled up in a grin. Leo would never forgive him if he didn’t fly today. “O-ok. O-off we g-go Hana. O-our first fl-flight-aaahhh!”  
His approval was all she needed, and the Dragon that had never flown before leapt right off the sheer cliff. His confidence fell too, and a yell ripped even through the howling wind in his ears, and he could still see everywhere! A blur streaked to his right as Winter plummeted right past, Wisk showing no outward distress as they angled themselves down. Garm existed somewhere above Hana, shaking his legs as if swimming, but looking straight ahead. In the back of his mind, Thorne spotted Mark near the cliff, flapping his wings powerfully but making no progress as the beats were terribly off. Yet he didn’t look frightened. Thorne’s scream cut off with a whimper, come to think of it, Hana wasn’t panicking. Instead, her wings were parted slightly and her legs folded tightly, she wasn’t preparing for a landing, crash or otherwise, she was waiting to fly. She just…needed help? The solution surfaced in Thorne’s mind with little to no prompting, as if the solution was always there. Hana…Thorne…no, they let their wings open with a leathery crack, their fall suddenly translating into an upward pull where they just barely missed Garm, who was accompanied by a screaming that was torn away by the skies. He closed his sight from her, somehow blanking out that area from vision. Call him cold, but focusing on his group's fall and trying to fly at the same time would end with him spattered on the ground. Their wings shifted, ballooning up from the harsh air, and their muscles burned with their next task. Hana knew all this, and her bat-like structure flashed in the forefront of Thorne's mind as she and him brought down her wings, again, and again, and something miraculous was happening. As their fall slowed from their flaps, their wings cracked open again and this time it seemed the wind lifted them, and Hana's head angled up. They were rising! With their success, Thorne was abruptly torn back into himself, gasping burning breaths as if he were the one to fly. Hana flapped her wings once more, and Thorne set his gaze around to discover they were skimming the tops of the trees. His heart started thundering in his head. If they got this close, where were the others!? The trees rustled, as if answering his question, and Garm shot straight out like some burst of Dragonflame…lots like Dragonflame actually, as a rush of heat washed over Hana and Thorne, and their height surged upwards thanks to the help. Garm’s wings were…beautiful. A shimmering gold reflected the sunlight onto the rest of his body, and his lightly furred body, previously a static and ugly mash of red and green, was layered in the sunlight. Orange, scarlet, rising up into deep green of the trees and faded light green. He looked like a burning forest. “Hahah! Thorne! Hey, hey! Your face is white! Are you ok!?” Haha shifted her head, and he saw the owner of the voice, “I’m great!” He howled after her, Garm twisted in midair and threw himself even higher, the heat beckoning Hana ever higher. May couldn’t have heard that, not in the whistling of heat, not in Hana's loud, crackling flaps, but Garm’s ears twitched and she giggled in affirmation. To be honest, that was a lie. Thorne thought he’d throw up any minute, he just couldn’t tell if it was going to be from seeing everywhere with no eyes or from the sheer joy of flying, but his stomach was steadied now, so he supposed he had a right to say he was great. Besides, he was more worried about May! What was up with her? Garm always did what he wanted, and May never smiled like that!  
Hana and Garm turned in the air, almost hanging in the air, and he turned his attention to ensuing her wings were steady and the heat was under her wings. With his sight of Garm’s beauty, he grunted in satisfaction at Hana’s own body. Her body itself was a deep darkness, never fading into grey but transitioning into a shiny color he recognized as silver as it lined her wings, which were a patchy black. Garm wasn’t the only pretty one here! And neither was she. Thankfully, Thorne spotted the approaching Dragon before it truly arrived, and could stifle a gasp at the sight that didn’t look Dragon, didn’t even look alien! Wisk’s multiple wings rapidly beat with no room for mistake, zipping right into Thorne’s face, whereupon he could resist letting out a brief shriek, and then halting inches from them. “I have flown.” Despite the low volume, Thorne could hear the puffed chest in the words, and guided Hana to circle down from the buzzing Dragon. “Patches! Get up here!” Ursa finally rejoined the group, having watched their first flight from the skies, Pop’s wings flapping pointlessly as the air obeyed some order and pushed downward, propelling him higher so that his human's voice soared through the air. “Aw, but he likes it!” Patches clung diligently to the rather unclean Dragon, who snorted laboriously and craned his mouth open to crunch down on some tree's top. “Then I guess you’ll “like” getting eaten by some Hounds, because we're getting a pack coming on through!” Patches mood changed instantly, “W-what!? C-come on buddy! Snack time's up!” If Wisk's wings were strange, Mark's wings were achingly normal. Leathered skin put together and stretching out from his back, generic flapping, truly, the only thing strange about them were the screws attached at points and some metal stretching over the skin. Still, he flew, and Mark grumbled incoherently in what Thorne assumed was anger on losing his meal. Ursa looked them over, having to rotate in place to see the Dragons that couldn’t hover in place quite like Wisk, who had somehow managed to hover straight and up as if standing for attention, and then barked out a laugh. Not a harsh laugh, bubbly, even Pop didn’t add in a growl or snarl to accompany it. “You all look like proper Tails, you know that?” She strained her voice over the combined drone of noise from the Dragon’s wings, “Flying, taking a meal,” Patches snorted conspicuously, but she barreled on, heedless of interruption, “And now you’ll bring a meal home, got it!?”  
\--  
There was no other option, that task was why they were even out here, and Thorne’s heart slowly returned to his chest as the dens faded from view and the fact that they were in severe danger out here started to come to mind. Other than this, he was finding new and strange things about his connection to Hana, for one thing, he was currently watching himself shuffle into a more comfortable position. He heard another deep rumble to his side, and Hana inclined her wings away from the lumbering even in the skies Mark, who’s head raised slowly and blinked at Thorne every few seconds. “Stop looking at me Patches!” Judging from the fact the Dragon’s attention kept being directed At him, Patches must have been keeping an eye on him for some reason, “At least tell Mark to keep an eye out!” Could Mark rumble disapprovingly? Apparently he could, because Thorne knew he did not just happen to rumble at him in a coincidence! Hana chattered her jaws, and took the lead, while Thorne surveyed their landscape. With nary a “Going!” Garm broke away from the tentative position of back guard, and almost fell out of the sky. What the duo could have possibly seen in the suffocating depths of the forest, couldn’t be imagined, and a twinge of worry twisted Thorne’s chest as he angled slightly to keep an eye on the disappeared Dragon. If she got eaten, it was Pop's fault, right? He didn’t even know her, but he had to keep them safe, he was in front! The thought cut off abruptly as a tree shuddered and cracked as the bounding Dragon leapt back into the air, heat waves driving a contented purr from Hana…what were those thoughts of hers entering his? Another explosion of wings and heat, and Garm let out an earsplitting, short bursts of sounds, barking out triumph towards Thorne. “Yes, yes, great. What did you get? Pop's watching, you can’t freak him out for nothing.” Even before the words came out of his mouth, he already got his answer as he focused on Garm’s neck, the pack there was starting to go in the same color as Garm’s underside, but it helped when Garm reared back and let May answer with a loud, “There were these little…furry…well, they looked a bit like Hana there…but furry! Garm caught them, good Garm, right!?” Thorne shrugged, “I guess. And they’re bats, by the way.” He added the last part as an afterthought, almost not noticing how Hana was descending until he jerked in place and set his sight everywhere. Pop looked calm as ever, and Ursa wasn’t yelling at them for landing, he guessed this was their hunting field for today?  
“Are you sure they were clean May?” His voice lowered into a far away sound as Hana closed her wings and almost threw herself past some scratching branches. “Sure as sure is sure! They bled red, didn’t click and everything! Garm isn't dumb!” She chirped, and he heard the branches above him simply collapse as the other Dragon’s took a far less finesse approach to getting down to the ground. His head swirled as they made in to land, groaning as he opened his eyes and found he once again had his true eyesight back, and promptly tumbled off of Hana, hands clasped over his mouth as his stomach attempted to regurgitate whatever could possibly exist in there. A cool presence pressed to his head, fussing and whimpering until he drew his hands up and spat spitefully onto the ground. Thankfully, his hearing hadn’t reduced like his sight had, and he heard evidence that the others around him were experiencing similar nausea and general sickness, hopefully they’d shake it off like he did. That was a short lived hope, as a sudden hacking confirmed that, at the very least, Patches was taking this very hard. Thorne didn’t even dare look at the boy, fearing the sight might very well be the last push he needed to empty his own stomach. “I-it’s not terrible.” Winter's voice barely betrayed her own brief suffering and, thus challenged, Thorne raised his hand to Hana's head and managed to push himself to his feet, “Y-yeah, it isn't that bad guys! We have to hunt, er, forage…do whatever you want!” So what if it felt like his stomach had turned upside down? He was still going to be a great Tail! As soon as this wave of sickness passed. Leaning on a nearby tree, Thorne nearly leapt a foot in the air as Winter and Wisk appeared right next to him, “Wah!? W-what are you two doing? You can go…I’m resting, you know, for just a moment!” Winter tilted her head, as if her action had been the most intelligent and obvious thing in the world, “Why, Wisk and I simply thought that it would be a fair idea to “pair up”, so to speak, with you. To both find provisions at a more efficient pace and defend you, should the need arise and you be unable to alert Ursa in time.” Well, he couldn’t really argue with that. “Everyone! Go with somebody else when you look for food, um, Winter's idea!” It felt natural to give her the credit, or simple decency, given she was right next to him, “If you’re attacked, scream! We'll come rescue you, ok?” His ears picked up a bluntly false “scream”, there was Patches agreement, and a quick “Got it.” From May. Winter even mumbled a pointless, “Understood.” Turned on her heel, and started forward with a distinct confidence in herself. Thorne himself beckoned Hana and lightly pursued her, casting a glance behind himself to find Hana crawling on the tips of her wings and staring with adoration up at her fellow Dragon Wisk, who blinked down at her, bumped her with a shoulder, and jerkily crawled on.  
Thorne had assumed Winter would want to talk now that the situation had calmed down, most of the girls typically did, and he felt sweat starting to run down his face as she said nothing. He felt the awkward one here. Wasn’t she going to say something about how flying had felt, how touching the Dragons had felt, or how about how they could see in every direction once they were flying!? Wasn’t that strange? Didn’t that warrant discussing? “It was weird, wasn’t it?” He blurted out of the blue, whipping his head over to Winter. Could she just say something!? He wasn’t the only one freaking out, was he? He didn’t miss any lessons, so nobody else should be more comfortable with this than he was! Alas, Winter was a creature beyond comprehension. “Yes. That was very strange.” And then nothing, she swerved toward a break in the vegetation, where a sickly sweetness invaded Thorne’s nose, “Oh look. Season Fruit.” She stated evenly, reaching out to the branches and tugging off a handful, holding it up to her ear, “Clean. It’s safe.” She looked back at Thorne, tilting her head at his scrunched up face, “What is wrong?” Thorne growled under his breath, lunging forward and picking handfuls of the Season Fruit at a frantic place, “Nothing. Nothing much.” He spat, “Just wondering if I’m being stupid for wondering what happened back there, flying, it’s freaky.” Winter’s face remained passive, thin face looking more like Wisk than ever before, she looked so calm. Thus, Thorne jumped at her next words, “You are being stupid.” Thorne didn’t think he’d bristle talking to such a quiet individual, Patches looked more like a boy that would send him into a screaming fit. He guessed he learned more everyday. “Excuse me!? How am I being stupid, I’m the only one reacting like a normal person!” The explosion of noise sounded so wrong in the wilderness, but he didn’t care, not while he was being ridiculed! Winter leaned back at the outburst, and Hana broke off from her watch with Wisk to nudge her furious human, his face reddened but he refused to return his argument, he was supposed to be mad, he wouldn’t apologize! Winter blinked slowly, as if deciding her next move, and spoke as if he really was stupid, “But…you are. I am unnerved, I imagine the others are. However, I do not explode because I received one boon from this experience. I have become closer to Wisk, and that is good, so it cannot be bad.” By now, Thorne had puffed up and prepared to be angry once more, but found himself deflating at her words. She…wasn’t exactly wrong, he did feel like he was the one flying back there, that was getting closer with her? But that still didn’t make sense! Why would they need to be connected to their Dragons like that and…oh, he gave up. He let out a chocked out breath, and grasped Hana’s chest pack to shove his handful of Season Fruit in, “G-guess so.” He mumbled, half-hoping Winter wouldn't hear but something in her face let him know that she had, “We gotta check up on the others, I don’t want to see them trying to eat uncl-what was that?“ A shrill noise tickled his ears, and he shook his head, looking up at Winter, “Do you think it’s a mons-hey!” The larger girl pushed past him diligently, raising her voice to call Wisk to her, and ran. A shrill noise, Thorne started running and beckoned Hana frantically, dropping the literal fruits of his labor. Monsters. It could be Hounds, they made all sorts of sounds. A Drake? No, they hunted Dragons but he never heard that they make such a sound. His breath lodged in his throat, it couldn’t have been! But as he tumbled to his make-shift rescue, he knew what he’d see before a human scream split the sky, “Pop! Heeelp!” Patches! Thorne put on a momentary burst of speed, and skidded to a halt. It was the worst case scenario, the only other creature that ruled the skies other that Dragons. The Roc.  
One grimy, yellow eye set upon Winter and Wisk, who were already prepared to fly. An intelligent idea, had the enemy not been a Roc. It’s head touched the tree's tops and enormous pale feathers bristled over its body before it let out another piercing cry. One talon was occupied, and Thorne gasped in horror at the trapped duo, “May! Garm!” May looked much like he remembered her, in over her head, shocked, having none of the confidence flying had granted her. “I-I-I can’t…I c-can't…” She was trapped, hunted, and about to be food. Yet Thorne didn’t do anything, how could he? His feet were rooted to the ground the moment he spotted the giant avian menace. It was not so inclined to give him the time to think about the situation, and lashed out at Wisk, the nearest Dragon that was actually prepared to fight. Teeth grasped the back of Thorne’s shirt and pulled him away from the monster, but his eyes still lingered on Winter and Wisk, they should be able to do something, they weren’t shocked by anything. Instead, blood drained from his face as Winter screamed and Wisk clumsily skittered to the side, and let out a bloodcurdling roar as the Roc rotated its talon and slammed the duo into a great trunk. Hana pulled him away from the sight, but he still saw the Dragon's black blood dribbling to the ground before his vision was cut off, and now he was screaming too. “Where are ya!? Skies damn you! Come out!” Ursa. She was looking for them, Thorne’s eyes flicked up, no sky, the tree’s blocked the sight from him. Ursa couldn’t find them in this.  
Hana had thrown him behind a rocky structure and, now of all times, Thorne took in their surroundings. Rocky area, cavern near where the Roc had Garm trapped, this was the hunting grounds of bats Garm had found. Not that Thorne could properly process it, as one kick from the Roc threw up sparks from their hiding place and was naturally followed by another wavering shriek from the boy. A guttural snarl shook the air as Hana suddenly reared her head, squawking a low tone at her natural enemy, and received a horrible scream in return, and a distinct chill settled over the air, drawing the Roc's attention as it instinctively feared the Dragonflame. Which just gave the perfect opportunity for the rest of the flight group’s resistance. Wisk wrenched off the tree and shot off, throwing up a plume of feathers as it swiped at the bird's back. Thorne couldn’t see Winter's face, but given she wasn’t screaming anymore, it seemed she had composed herself. Suddenly, Patches was there too, darting out from behind a similar rock protrusion. He was already connected to Mark as well, whooping out a battle cry that would be childish had their situation not been as serious as it was.  
Lacking obvious claws and fangs, Mark drew his thick neck back and swiped it into the Roc’s flank, colliding with its wing. Despite the unpracticed attack, it voiced a very vocal agony, holding the extremity close. In his terror, Thorne understood. A grounded Roc, that was the reason it struck out for young Dragons who wouldn’t know to watch for such a thing. It’s wing was broken! It’s pain was obvious, but it still managed to lunge forward and plunge its beak into Mark's shoulder, drawing a groan from the slow Dragon before flinging it at Hana. Thorne threw himself to the ground before an inorganic crunch sounded above him and two bodies hit the floor and a terrible pain raked his chest as if pulsed, Hana scrambled frantically and against all common sense rose again to confront the agitated Roc, but Mark…Thorne crawled forward and touched the stab wound, drawing away as the lightning within the unclean part bit him. Deep, it was bad. Hurriedly, Thorne shot up and shook the connected Patches frantically, “What do we do!?” He yelled over another bout of chattering and screaming from Wisk and the Roc’s engagement, “Bandages? He got hit in an unclean spot, I can't help!” Patches, who had curled against his Dragon’s back and refused to respond, suddenly seemed to come apart, falling to the side and only avoiding collapsing to the ground because Thorne was there. He was falling apart in more ways than one too, he was crying.  
The boy, who Thorne had assumed was very loud from his interactions with him this flight, was now sniffing quietly in the dirt and wouldn’t let his shoulder go, the same shoulder as Mark. Another sound shook the forest, quite literally, and a section of the tree cover above them tore away. “I’m coming! Come on you bastard! I’m your enemy!” Then another sound, a high pitched whimper mingled with a shuddering scream, and Thorne set down the suffering Patches to see, while Pop and Ursa were arriving, Garm and May lay under the Roc’s claws, and they were being crushed. A foreign, fierce anger wrapped around his head, generating a screaming roar as Hana howled her high-pitched shrieking. Ice cold air started to crackle around Hana, but she didn’t move, lowering her head and making room for one important part of a Dragon. Thorne didn’t need her to tell him twice. “Stay here!” He barked, springing to his feet and crawling up Hana’s back just as the Roc stabbed forward once again with its beak. Hana was clumsy on the ground, nor was she strong, but there was one thing Thorne knew she was, fast. The beak came amazingly quickly, and she threw herself to the side. Thorne felt his hands stay right where they had started, he was connected, Hana could fight. She flapped desperately in the tiny airspace, ducking under another strike by the bird. Focused just on defending her front side, there was no way for her to know a talon was about to tear her side open, but her Tail did. “Down!” and she flattened against the ground, only getting dust in her eyes for her trouble, “Get Garm, hurry!” Her feet pushed against the dirt, and they were off. In that second, the Roc understood their intention to take its hard earned prey, and raised its uninjured wing to slam the annoying speck to the ground, it had to leave before that big Dragon got down here! Perhaps it would have succeeded too, had a whirlwind of claws and teeth not erupted the floor and chomped the feathery mass!  
“I-I ha-have this!” Winter’s face flashed in Thorne’s vision for a moment, her words holding none of their proud dignity, nor her Dragon, who pulled and slashed, drawing scarlet droplets as Wisk tore animalistically at the wing that nearly dwarfed all of them. Then they were launching their own attack, drawing up Hana’s talons to crash into the Roc’s scaled leg, her claws sinking deep. Whether the Roc cried out because of his or Wisk’s attack, he didn’t know, and didn’t care, all that mattered was the leg was moving off of Garm, and May moved her hand to touch Garm. Thorne gasped as a wave of heat gave the air the scent of burnt feathers, and Garm powerfully rose to his feet, May’s own face twisted like his. Except for one thing, May didn’t have fire coming out of her mouth. Thorne stared at the sight, only catching movement in the back of his mind and pushing Hana’s head down in the nick of time as another clawed foot shook the ground. A haunting howling exploded from Garm’s maw, and a crack split the skies above as Pop fell into the fray...And Garm breathed fire. Hana just barely managed to dive away from the Roc before the flames swirled around it and the giant Pop slammed into it from above. The equal in size Roc attempted to scream, at least, that’s the sound Thorne thought it was making as the fire consumed its chest and wings. Ursa snarled in reply, and for a moment was more terrifying than the near death experience Thorne and the rest of the group had just gotten through. Pop himself didn’t tolerate the noise and grasped the Roc’s head in his claws and started to wrench to the side. Just in time, Thorne realized what he was about to see and tore away from Hana’s back, hands flying up to shield his innocent ears. The resulting snap still penetrated his skin though.  
It was over, with a huff, Pop threw the Roc down, where its head lolled revoltingly, and Ursa sprang down from her Dragon. “What happened here!?” For some reason, she was aiming the question at Thorne. Not willing to let her question hang in the air, he shuffled to the ground and leaned on Hana’s flank, “W-well, we were looking for food and…a-and-ugh!” Abruptly, he pitched forward, now of all times his stomach decided now would be a fantastic time to rebel against him. It took all his strength to not throw up on himself, so he settled for pointing at the Roc, surely Ursa could piece together what had happened here just by looking at it. “And then you fought it?” She asked, and he nodded through his nausea. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and he stiffened instinctively, oh great, now he was in trouble! Cautiously, he opened his eyes, then he had to blink a little to really see what he was seeing at this moment. “Good job.” Ursa was smiling at him. A nice smile, she was proud of them? Emotions out of the way, Ursa straightened out and marched over to where Patches lay. At the moment, Winter had joined him, rocking back and forth as she shuddered and pressed her hands against imaginary wounds. Their Dragons looked worse.  
Mark nursed a numb leg that hung uselessly at his side, giving deep groans as he nosed the limp limb and seemed to be willing the thing to work once more. It didn’t. Wisk had earned their battle wounds, having participated the majority of the fight, but that still didn’t make their wounds any more easy to look at. Long tears trailed down their side, splintering the carapace and giving way to smaller scratches that thankfully only oozed small trails of black. “Alright, alright. On your feet, the both of you! Up! Up!” Ursa crawled, hooking the boy and girl under the arms and forcing them to their feet even though they yelped and pushed at her doggedly, “You’re not gonna feel any better till your Dragon feel better, got that?” With an air of concern, May trotted over and helpfully offered a shoulder to Patches, who was clearly better off than Winter, who was now standing but leaning heavily on Ursa. She was white in the face, and sweating like a river. Her Dragon had breath fire, so that was his Dragonflame. Thorne felt himself smile ruefully, guess Garm wasn’t as useless a Dragon than he thought he was. The cold around Hana was fading, and while he would have wondered at that strange phenomenon, there were better things to worry about…like if the food in the Dragon’s packs got destroyed. The idea popped into his mind so unprompted, he sprang to Hana’s pack immediately…and promptly spat out a very vocal “No!” As the spattered Season Fruit swirled within, and then May laughed. Thorne turned, arms still full of the ruined fruit as he dumped it to the floor in the disgust, and spluttered, “W-what's so funny about this!? It’s ruined!” Patches grimaced as his shoulders shook in attempted laughter next to May, “Y-yeah, but look! We got-got something a heck of a-a lot better!” Now Thorne looked at the Roc, still smoldering but not letting out the burnt smell of metal…come to think of it, it hasn’t clicked like the Dragons since they caught it…and he gasped, “Oh skies! We caught a Roc!” Ursa, still practically carrying the small Winter, called out over the Roc as she inspected it, “Damn right ya caught it! It’s clean too, bleeds red and all that! Still, Pop can’t carry it all on his lonesome…gonna need your help, yeah?” And Thorne instantly withered, oh yeah, they still had to fly home after all this...  
\--  
And all that explained why he was currently watching himself and Hana strain against the packs tied into a rope against them, powerful beats of her wings just barely keeping their catch in the air. At the other end if the Roc corpse, Garm held a talon in his forelimbs, letting off more smoldering heat as he pulled and snarled in exhaustion. The heat was being taken advantage of by both Wisk and Mark, who barely flapped their wings anymore, even with the help they looked like they might just pitch out of the sky if a stiff breeze hit them. In the middle of it all, of course there was Ursa, shouting up a storm of her own as Pop clasped the Roc’s head and steadily floated on. “Hurry up! Thorne, your Dragon is falling behind, catch up. Patches, do not leave the heat wave or you will fall. Don’t think I’m not looking at you May, flap those wings! Don’t you want your friends to get treatment!?” Even as May squealed and egged Garm on pleadingly, Thorne almost rolled his eyes, they flew once together, so now they were friends apparently. Please, he knew them for one measly fight and, with help, they killed a Roc together. Garm even breath fire helping them out. Just because of that, they were friends? If anything they were now…close acquaintances. Yes, that was it.  
The resulting distraction of his own justifying thoughts nearly tilted Hana’s wings too far, and the whole neat little procession yelled as the corpse almost twisted out of Pop’s claws, which made Garm stop, which made Wisk and Mark lose a terrifying amount of altitude. It was a mess, not to mention a very time-consuming mess. Thorne blushed under what he knew was Ursa’s anger filling the air, even without the ability to see everything around him, he knew Ursa was looking at him now, just to make sure it wouldn’t be his fault Wisk and Mark fell out of the sky. “Guys, are we there yet?” If Patches was still feeling his Dragon’s injury, he was hiding it well, all Thorne got from his words was that he was reducing to the annoying talk that failed to occupy this flight, and he got his wish quickly, “Keep your mouth shut, Patches. If you fall because you weren’t paying attention to how your Dragon was flying, I’m not making Pop pick your sorry Tail up.” Apparently Patches wasn’t deterred, “But I’m bored, and tired, I just wanna know, what’s so wrong about that? Don’t be a bully, I’m hurt. You hurt me far more than the Roc.” Apparently drama still was possible for him. Thorne cracked, suppressing a small laugh that barely sounded over Patches', for lack of a better word, whining. “You think it’s funny, boy?” His mouth closed with a snap, but Thorne couldn’t help but answer shortly afterwards with a, “Yes?” It was, you’d think a boy who had just fought the terrible natural enemy of Dragon’s would be a little more terrified, a little less of a little kid, but no. Not Patches. “Hmph.” Ursa snorted, and directed the next question toward the Dragon beside her, Garm and May, “You think it’s funny too?” May’s eyes were closed and generally detached as she spoke, she still looked rather worried as she spoke, “W-well, it’s a little funny…in the dumb way. I thought he’d be quiet on the fly back.” A voice that hadn’t spoken once since their flight began piped up above Garm, “Me too.” And finally Patched took lead over the conversation once again, “Oh! My skies! Now they’re all ganging up on me too! Look Mark, how terrible! Calling it funny!” That was it, Ursa was outnumbered and she frowned childishly, “Fine. It’s funny…and to answer your question, we’ll be there momentarily. Cast your gaze out, you’ll see it.” Haha flew higher, the packs nearly ripping off in her bid to gain enough height for Thorne to see, indeed the stone bowl of the dens were right there for all to see.  
After their experience, Thorne hesitatingly cast his vision upwards, did Rocs ever attack such an obvious target? Still grumbling to herself, Ursa suddenly raised her voice and, as if reading his scared thought, commented, “Don’t ya worry nothing, Rocs don’t make it near us had the time, and the other half…well, that’s why we live in tunnels.” That was sort of a relief, but Thorne’s thoughts didn’t fade, especially over the fact he was carrying back something that had worked just fine on the ground against them, if somebody didn’t get to the tunnels fast enough-…Thorne gasped and shook his head, he couldn’t think like that! For one, Dragons were the natural enemy for a reason, and second, Hana would steer them off course again if he didn’t keep an eye on her, and Wisk and Mark were sinking lower every second they were out here. “Um…miss Ursa? Ma'am?” May started to have Garm slow slightly as they approached the Rocky formation, “How do we get this up there? We barely flew here.” Ursa clicked her tongue distastefully, “Good question.” Oh no, what did that mean? Some kind of stress started to fill the air as Pop started to beat his little wings downwards, puffing in a great breath but still not rising high enough. “May.”  
“Uh, yes?”  
“Get your Dragon to breath fire now. Down. Everybody else, fly high and get in there! You especially boy! Flap hard!” At her order, a downwards column of fire erupted from Garm’s snout as May whispered in his ears, and Wisk and Mark wobbled in midair as their flight was suddenly very vertical. Thorne felt his connection to Hana start to mesh, not uncomfortably, and a deep chill started to emanate from them as they flapped their wings in a circle fashion. Hana’s feet hurt in the most dangerous way as their precious food rose ever higher, and Thorne could feel the creaking in her legs as she pulled bravely, she was going to break, skies, she'd break and then she'd fall and they’d never get this stupid food up there! Thankfully, even as his mind collapsed into hysteria, Hana dutifully carried on her duty, unhindered by what she was feeling and how her legs pulled until they clicked disturbingly. Suddenly, the rise was rather lopsided, the heat coming from Garm far more easily carrying up his side of the Roc. Hana simply snorted as the challenge implied itself to her, and beat her wings harsher, ignoring the mind of Thorne’s that tended to run away from him in panic. Pop breached the top of the dens, Thorne could see the Center from here! “Go guys! Get in!” May yelled, squeaking under her Dragon’s straining. Two leaning shapes practically fell into the rock bowl and, judging by the voices that clamored within, were found almost instantly. Good, because Thorne could feel he and Hana literally could not hold this anymore. “Watch out!” Ursa announced, and Pop heaved one last time and threw the rarity into the safety of the dens. Hana released the rope of packs instantly, let out a sad cry as her flaps lost momentum and she plummeted right towards the unforgiving ground. Even with his connection, Thorne could do nothing to help the completely drained Dragon except hold on tight and hope she landed correctly. A howl started to gain on them, it was Garm who, without any input from May, was trying to snap up the tail of Hana to drag her back into the air. Thorne shook his head frantically at the whimpering Dragon, that idiot was going to crush them both on the stones if he didn’t pull away now! And May wasn’t any better either, face set in grim determination as it seemed she vowed to either catch Hana or hit the ground, whatever came first. It seemed the ground was winning that particular race.  
He could hear Ursa yelling at them, at who he wasn’t exactly sure, but May certainly wasn’t listening. Seeing as it was inevitable, Thorne focused his vision away from the ground and May, he didn’t need to see visions of his impending doom being crushed by some emotional Dragon, thank you very much. Then, Hana hit. In that moment, Thorne noticed how whatever the rocks were, they weren't as hard as he imagined them so, and…bent?...under Hana’s weight, had they hit harder than he anticipated? Nonetheless, he wrenched his connection away from Hana and threw his hands over his head, sure a piping-hot Dragon was going to fall on his head at any moment. Another crashing sound, but above him. He waited a second more before cracking open his eyes, there was no way Garm could have recovered from such a dive, he should have crushed them. And indeed he should have, had a scaly arm not been above Thorne’s head.  
“Heh, look at you, moving up in the world! Already caught yourself a Roc and everything!” A familiar voice sounded above him, and Thorne couldn’t help the joyful smile that usually accompanied such conversations with this man, “Leo! Hehe, yeah, we did it!” Thorne managed to crush down the sick feeling that usually came after flying, it was starting to get easier, and raised his eyes to greet him with a smile. Instead, what he saw struck him speechless. A gigantic Dragon was standing upon the protrusions of rock and was holding Hana and him in its arms! Garm was in the other arm, where May had already disconnected and was groaning dizzily, and on the Dragon’s back…was Leo. “Th-this is your Dragon, Leo!? He’s huge!” Bigger even than Pop, Thorne couldn’t believe there was a tunnel large enough to house such a behemoth, or that they could get enough food to feed such a thing. “That’s right! He’s pretty, huh? Let them down now Og.” The beast, a sandy colored mountain of a Dragon, snorted out a puff of smoke and lowered its claws, putting the smaller Dragon’s down with a gentleness that belied its size. Thorne could only stare up at the being, composed entirely of sandy scales, Og shone a bright orange in the light. His tail rested upon the ridged edge of the dens, and white protrusions stuck up in the air from his head as he looked down upon his rescued fellow Dragon. Thorne could swear he was frowning at him. Then suddenly, hands were grabbing him and twisting him around, “Are you hurt, let me see!” He blinked up at the worried face, “Ursa? Uh, yes, I’m good. Is Ma-“ It seemed Ursa had the same thought as him, and rushed over to where May was frozen, leaning against Garm and sucking in breaths. Thorne himself rushed over to Hana and hugged her head, “Geez! You gotta tell us when your tired ok!? Are you ok!? You didn’t break anything, right?” Contrary to her determination while flying, Hana simply nuzzled her babbling human and pushed against the ground with her wings, releasing an ominous creaking sound as her legs unfolded.  
“Don’t make her move so much.” It was Leo, Og had set him down and now laid his huge head upon the edge of the cliffs, seemingly content with the activity he had completed today. “Is she gonna be ok?” Thorne patted the wyvern on the head and let out a similar cooing sound to her, she was hurt and it was all because he had her take a whole side of the Roc by herself. Leo shrugged, rubbing her shoulder reassuringly, “Aw, a few Tic-tics, a little water, and a nap and she'll be up and running in no time!” “And she wouldn’t have needed it had we not pointlessly carried a Roc back by myself and Tail's Dragons!” Ursa advanced upon Leo, face twisted into a low frown Thorne had not had the honor of seeing yet, Garm and May hiding themselves behind her broad back. Leo waved pleasantly, “A Roc, I see. It’s been a while since I ate one. Tell them they did a good job.” But Ursa wasn’t here for conversation, and Thorne found himself standing protectively in front of Leo as the woman stomped forward, “Yes they did a good job! The skies know I’d make them Longtails if they weren’t children, but you! What were you doing!? Where was your monster when we were carrying back a Roc with children!?” Thorne felt himself bristle and yelled out, “He caught me and May, what more could you want!? And Og isn’t a monster!” May suddenly leapt next to him, nodding her head frantically, “Yes, yes! If he didn’t, I really think I would have landed on Thorne here, and that would be no fun for either of us, we wouldn’t fly for days!” Quite abruptly, Leo grabbed them by the shoulders and pushed them back, “So you’re the sweetheart that tried to save Thorne, thank you, little Tail…but I don’t need you two to protect me to say I did all I could have in that situation, Ursa. Og would blow them out of the sky just by flapping his wings, unlike your Pop there.” Ursa trembled with anger, “You should have seen them from a mile away, I refuse to believe you let us glide here for no other reason than you wanted to test th-“ Leo suddenly spoke loudly, far louder than Ursa, and shoved Thorne and May away from the conversation, quite literally, with a, “Why don’t you two check up on your friends? They got hurt, didn’t they?” Being literally thrown away, Thorne and May could only tilt their heads quizzically at the pushy nature of the almost order, but scrambled to fulfil what he said as he launched a look at them that spoke volumes on whether he’d tolerate disobedience or not. He wouldn’t.  
Thorne lingered longer, as did Hana, who remained rooted to her spot until Thorne spoke harshly for her to follow him, and limped after him with shaky feet. But her senses didn’t leave the conversation, “Oh, sorry, don’t want to let them know you’re nursing them full of strength so you can get your…guards or something!? You don’t ever say what you want from these children!” What were they doing? Hana tilted her head further to try and catch another snippet of words, but finally had to follow Thorne when he grabbed her by the wing and started walking faster. She showed her teeth and hissed, what was that? What did those words mean!? -- “And then, BAM! Smacked it right in the wing! Right guys?” Thorne felt himself being wrenched back into the conversation at hand, well, it was less a conversation and more of a single sided bragging from Patches, conveniently omitting information such as the fact that they had screamed, that the fight hadn’t gone as smoothly as he was making it seem, and especially the part where he cried. The unoccupied hatchlings were captivated. Thorne lingered on the sidelines, patting the oddly skittish Hana, who kept looking over to where Leo and Ursa were having their private talk. They couldn’t interrupt them, so he maintained his hand on her head, just in case she tried to bolt for it. Currently Patches' and Winter's Dragons were being attended to by a group of…Medics?...Cuttails?...Their names escaped Thorne, but what mattered was that they sewed up the fleshy parts of Wisk and Mark, and introduced steel to their unclean parts. Thorne found himself watching the almost nauseating process as strands of flesh reached out and melded the metal back into place. Nearby, he could see out of the corner of his eyes a group of young hatchlings plucking the great bird…he couldn’t wait, he never ate one of these things.  
But the ongoing chatting between the group didn’t let him focus too long on the surroundings, not with May smacking him rapidly on the shoulder as Patches skipped over Garm breathing fire. “B-but Garm was doing good too!” May’s voice interrupted the ongoing narration, raising her hand as if she were being taught, “Once you and Mark got smacked,” Patches flinched at such a breach to his confidence, “Thorne here got me and Garm up and then he breath fire! It was Dragonfire! And it burned up that stupid Roc! Thorne, Thorne! Tell them!” and quite suddenly, he was the center of attention, even the people fixing Mark and Wisk turned their heads to listen. They must have been really excited that a new Dragon discovered his Dragonflame…”W-well, it’s certainly true.” He ventured, backing up as some of the children attempted to surround him. Hana had no such problems, and purred in a high-pitched manner as some of the small children and Dragons hauled themselves over her shoulders to get closer to their new storyteller. At least she wasn’t skittish anymore. Thorne grimaced as the task was pushed upon him, and felt the his face start to whiten, this was as bad as the Roc! “C'mon buddy! Tell it! Tell us! Tell us!” There was no choice, the hatchlings were already starting to parrot the battle cry! And wait! When did he and Patches become “buddies”!? “Ahem! U-uh, there Garm w-was, under the Roc’s claws.” The children broke their piercing gaze to marvel at the huge creature's claws, allowing him a few seconds of reprieve. The white in his face wasn’t fading, he was still there with that screaming avian in his face, and seeing Dragon’s black blood hitting the grass, but it’d scare the kids if he told it the way it was! He turned his face toward May and frowned in his agony caused by children, and got an encouraging smile in return. That…wasn’t exactly what he was hoping for, but he'd take it.  
He had composed himself by the time they turned back to him, and continued at a babbling pace, “A-and I didn’t really know what to do, so I ran up, and Hana ripped its legs to the sky above! Then, Garm got up, and there was smoke coming out of his mouth!” He cast a quick glance at May, she was smiling like he had just said her Dragon made the skies or something like that, and, thus encouraged, he stammered on, “And Hana and I kinda knew what would happen, so we ran! Then Ursa fell out of the sky! And breathed fire! That was it, that bad Roc was dead! And now we're going to eat it!” He barked louder and louder, as if to convince himself of his own safety, though the children didn’t notice, instead releasing a long cheer in response to his triumph. His eyes widened as they started drawing forward, were they going to hug him!? Oh no! “Oh yeah!” He shot away from the outstretched hands and pointed to where Winter lurked even further away. She had clearly been listening however, as her head shot up before hiding behind Wisk’s head, but too, late, the hatchlings were already looking over to her. “She helped fight too! Her Dragon was amazing, and strong! Ask her about it!” Thankfully, they took the bait and clamored over her, barely stopping long enough for her to mumble out her story, “It was a terrible fight. Very frightening. For all of us. I believe me most of all.” The triumphant attitude of the atmosphere started to fade, and Thorne commented under his breath, “How did I know she’d tell the truth?” Despite his words, he was glad she was telling them this and not him, some of the hatchlings had already broken away as the glee of the stories faded, though most still stuck around in some amazed horror. “It hurt me, I felt hurt, because the claws that tore through Wisk also tore through me, but I fought, Thorne fought, and we tore the Roc first.” She placed her hands on her lap, sighing, “I am finished, is that what you wanted to hear?” Before the hatchlings could flee from this cold narrator, Patches raised his voice once more, “H-hey! Hey guys! Who wants to touch Mark the Roc killer!? Don’t worry, he’s really friendly!” The only one who wasn’t glad that all the company was gone was May, who sighed dejectedly and waved after the children, Thorne and Winter simply sighed in relief. “Were you actually scared?” May suddenly asked over the sounds of Patches’ bragging, and Winter and Thorne shared a look as neither actually knew who she was speaking to for the question. It seemed Thorne would have to take the hit, Winter had spoken as if the words themselves were painful, and despite his own reservations about it, she had already said her feelings and he didn’t need to make her say them again. “I was scared.” He chuckled laboriously as May looked at him with wide eyes, “Yeah, yeah, I saved you but that was at the very end…I just hid behind a stupid rock and watched Mark get stabbed. Winter and Wisk did a lot more fighting than me, Hana only got hurt landing here. You know, I think it was Hana that saved you, I was just along for the ride.” He propped his head up on his knees, frowning deeply, saying all that didn’t exactly make him feel better, he hoped they’d appreciate it.  
“Oh, thank you Hana!” May cried out, and hugged the resting Dragon, who looked at Thorne with mouth parted in a way that he could swear was a smile. Thorne found himself smiling at the scene, and decided to quip, “What’re you waiting for Hana? Hug her back.” Immediately the Dragon lowered her head and wrapped the girl in her neck, raising her off the ground with a giggling shriek. “Garm! Garm! Help me!” She shouted in mock terror, which the playful Dragon picked up on and waved his twin tails in a terrible vortex that Thorne was certain was deadly, “You heard Thorne! He ordered this! Get him!” Now he became the victim of a vicious hug by Garm, and yelped as he grasped Garm’s fur to avoid falling as the Dragon attempted to hoist him off the ground in much the same way Hana was imprisoning May not a Dragon length away from him. Needless to say, his stocky neck just barely got the job done. A strange sound filled the air, giggling squeaks making both human and Dragons turn their heads. Winter had both hands over her mouth, and more squeaks managed to slither their ways out between her fingers. She was laughing. May stared a moment longer, and then the next second burst into more hearty laughter as she hug Hana with sheer glee. Thorne himself strangled his amusement and forced what he hoped looked like a disapproving frown, but in actuality was just his lips morphing into some ridiculous caricature of one as he struggled not to smile at the dumb predicament he was in. No way May would let that stand, “C'mon Thorne, look at yourself! It’s funny!” No it wasn’t, there was no way that him being lifted into the air by her Dragon was in any way funny. The hissing laughter that broke out of his mouth begged to differ, but he kept it subtle, at the very least better than Winter’s poor attempt to conceal her own breaking bearing. While their play occupied their heads, Ursa marched right past them, not even paying heed to the scene before her, and approached Patches. Thorne couldn’t see what she was saying to him, but whatever it was seemed to make him happy. Thorne returned to the task at hand, trying to escape Garm’s grasp without suffocating from the sheer volume of laughter that lingered in his throat, “Hehe-hahaha! Ok, alright, I’m done! Can Garm put me down?” The sparkle in May’s eyes suggested that she’d love to keep him hanging there, but called out, “Fine. Garm, stop hugging him.” Thorne hit the ground and instantly hugged himself, the warmth quickly fading and leaving a longing for more. Not that it took long for the hugging to resume. The moment he got to his feet, something big embraced him from behind and lifted him up, leaving him kicking the air and wondering if the skies were amused at his predicament. “Yes! This is amazing, buddy! This is-it’s just fantastic!” Oh, it was Patches.  
Mark was here too, forelegs still pressed to his chest but still finding enough time to wrap around the duo. “What’s are you even talking about Patches!?” Thorne whimpered in what he was realizing was a much stronger grasp than his own, Patches wasn’t letting him go anytime soon. “Put the boy down, show some dignity, for your damned sake if not his.” Ursa voiced her order, striding over to the group. Despite the order, Patches simply whirled with Thorne in his arms and continued the affectionate attack as he bounced in place, Thorne was distinctly starting to feel like some kind of pet. “Ma'am? What’s he on about?” He mumbled, trying to ignore Patches exclamations of happiness that seemed to override any part of his brain that would like to give an actual explanation to his captured human. Ursa barely acknowledged the incident, casting her gaze around to make sure all were listening, “Leo and I have…discussed the matter over, and have decided that the young Tail groups shall be denmates, hence your friends excitement here.” There it was again, friend, and Thorne sniffed in disdain. They were a flight group, acquaintances, apparently now denmates, if anything, they’d be friends in a few days…weeks…how long did it take Leo and him to become friends?  
“How was this matter decided?” For the first time since she had rested next to Wisk, Winter made her way to her feet and briskly walked over to Patches, placing a hand on his shoulder to keep him from bouncing anymore, apparently the movement was starting to irritate her as much as it was nauseating Thorne. Ursa gave a noncommittal shrug, “Now that you're Tails, your gonna be going out into a dangerous world, Leo wants you to be more…efficient, and I want you to be safe, he also wants you to have friends. Now ain’t that sweet?” Patches nodded eagerly, nearly hitting his chin on the top of Thorne’s head, “Uh-huh! Uh-huh! It’s great, I never got to be denmates with anybody when I was a hatchling!” Thorne instead stared up in disbelief, he never had denmates either and that was because he didn’t want to have any, why was it changing now!? Ursa must have read his mind, for she looked over to him and snorted, “Don’t look at me like that, you’ll sleep separately, I’m not a monster.” Well, that made it slightly better, but he was still pretty mad at the situation! “I thought you did everything Leo told you, guess you think for yourself after all, huh?” Now what was Ursa talking about!? He absolutely thought for himself, he was no idiot! Thorne strained against Patches’ restraint, having no idea what he’d do once he reached Ursa but absolutely sure he was going to do something. His emotions started to cloud his vision up until she spoke once more, “Good for you.” Wait, what? Why would she compliment him for that? He went limp in the grip he was trapped in, “Th-thank you?” He tilted his head, and the silence around him was so thick he would imagine that Hana could cut it with her claws.  
That seemed to be all Ursa wanted to convey, and she left an informing, “Just go to the Tail’s dens and take a shallow cave, don’t leave anybody out or I’ll get you.” Thorne didn’t doubt it…and then she was gone. “Patches, it’s been fun, but can you put me down now?” His wish was granted, but the other boy kept one hand latched onto Thorne’s shoulder to keep him around, “Man, why do you always get some praise. I think she likes you!” Thorne chuckled under his breath, “Really? Do you see the way she yells at everybody? I think she hates everybody, except her job and Pop!” To be honest, he was seeing some kind of different treatment towards him and Hana. She let him lead the flight, took his opinion into account, and praised him over the oddest things. Oh dear, should he report favoritism to Leo? He was pretty sure Longtails shouldn’t do that, the others needed people to tell them they were doing a good job too! Before he could dwell about it, Patches guided him around until they were walking towards the dens, “Eh, if she hates you or not doesn’t really matter ta me.” Patches drawled, beckoning both the Dragon’s and humans to follow him and ignoring Thorne’s frown at being lead around, “I just wanna see where I’m gonna sleep, truth be told, Mark was starting to crush me in our old home.” May sighed sympathetically, “Me too, I had to sleep on top of Garm. He could barely get out today! Hey Winter? Was Wisk a problem, they’re rather big and…spiky.” Having already spoken for a while, Winter resigned herself to ongoing conversations and answered, “Not as much as you would imagine, we laid down rules, each would sleep on the other side of the den. We both possessed enough dignity to follow these rules, even when there were frightening noises outside.” Thorne smirked in some dumb pride, “Hana and I never had that problem, she’s so small she could sleep right next to me and we’d be fine!” Why was this something to be proud of? Thorne didn’t know, he was just happy he had something over the rest of them, at least until Patches chuckled and cooed, “Aww, how adorable!” and now Thorne regretted ever saying anything.  
They weren't alone in their travels, other groups of Tails followed their leads and wandered in the general direction of the Center, but towards a sloping incline instead, one that they had never been allowed near as hatchlings, if they ever left the hatchling dens it was to play in the sun or learn from the older Tails and Longtails, even their food was delivered right to their dens to avoid the outside. After the fight with the Roc, Thorne could understand the desire to keep the smallest and weakest away from the skies, those things would probably snatch up hatchlings like Hana ate Tic-tics, it’d be awful. Thorne almost felt like hesitating at the dens, the past rule of keeping out of these caverns weighing on him, but apparently didn’t bother Patches at all, as he barreled into the Tails dens without a care in the world. Thorne threw a desperate glance over Patches shoulder and noted with some surprise that he sighed in relief when he saw that Winter and May were following fitfully along, and not Hana, who he knew would always be behind him. The first thing the young Tails learned about their new dwelling was one thing, it was very, very big.  
The ceiling was high enough for the biggest Dragon's head, Thorne imagined even Og would be hard-pressed to frown upon the size. The sides were huge as well, for Dragons and humans to pass each other. It was big, very big! Scary big! Thorne felt simultaneously like curling up into a ball and having Patches carry him, and crawling up the walls like the lizard boy he was. Either way, these conflicting thoughts caused his legs to buckle and he chocked out a squeak. He would imagine Patches to let go of him and continue into his exploration, to be the first to find a suitable den, but he just felt his grip tighten and he halted, letting several groups pass them. “What’s wrong, Thorne? I'm not going to let you get lost, ok? Don’t be scared!” Thorne snorted, and twisted out of the arm that had lead him for far too long, “I’m not scared of a den!” He snapped, “Its just big, that’s all!” He felt something push at his back, and blinked, “Huh?” It was Garm, nosing him forward as May his underneath his chest, hand on the stoic Winter's sleeve as if to protect her too, “Then-then you go f-first Thorne! You too Patches! This is all so new!” Winter closed her eyes and sighed in a long suffering fashion, it seemed she was not suffering the same emotional explosion the others were, whether happiness or fear, she didn’t experience an excess of either.  
Now offered to the cavernous mouth of the dens, Thorne found he had no other choice than to lead with Patches, but it was still rather big. “Hana, can you come here?” He struggled to make his voice as casual as possible, he was just calling Hana because she was his Dragon, right, that was what was happening, “I don’t want you to get stuck behind there.” Hana seemed to obey the request at face value, for she didn’t try to shield him or take the lead, thank goodness, simply walking by his side. At least this way, he had reason to walk slower, Hana's legs were still moving in a very jerking way, and he paused after every few steps to make sure her walk hadn’t worsened. “Ohh, good idea! Hey Mark, come Mark! I want to show everybody my Dragon too!” Well, that wasn’t what Thorne was planning, but whatever he wanted to believe. Mark didn’t seem to take any larger steps, but soon overtook Wisk, who trotted next to Garm, and settled at Patches pace next to him.  
Thus armed with their loyal Dragons, Patches and Thorne proceeded deeper into the Tails dens. For a moment, Thorne feared they’d have no way to see as the darkness started to crowd around him, only to find his eyes picking up pinpricks of light. It wasn’t the hatchlings dens lights, torches on the walls, no, it was far more beautiful. Great swaths of moss grew on the ceiling and within cracks in the walls, and they simmered like jewels! Thorne’s own eyes shined at the sight, and he walked with head cranes back, relying on Patches to keep him from walking into a wall, not that he didn’t once or twice, as Patches darted off to observe the gleaming moss or feed it to his Dragon. Beauty. It was amazing, and they’d get to live here now!? “Is that the Roc hunters?” A voice emanated from an occupied den, “Is it? They are young!” And yet another, “At least the Dragons look cool.” Thorne started to shrink away as the comments started to get more and more specific, “Look at his skin! Did he get uneven sun or something?” or, “Look at her, I know her…Winter! She’s…nice, you know, whenever she talks.” Thorne flinched as one negative comment entered his ears, “He can’t be a Tail, he’s tiny. He doesn’t even look old enough!” Indeed, there was the occasional, “That’s awesome, if they’re hunting we'll eat Rocs instead of hiding from them.” And “Let's fly with them next time, I wanna talk to them now!” but Thorne wasn’t hearing any of it, he was just hearing anything that brought his spirits down and frowned deeply.  
At the very least, all but Patches looked uncomfortable at the sudden attention, but Patches distracted the rest of the appearance based comments thanks to his inconsistent skin as he stepped away from his Dragon and waved cheerfully at the murmuring Tails. “Hey! Hiya everybody! Let us through, let us through, we got no time for talk, we just fought a Roc I’m sure you heard?” Was he trying to get them to their dens safely? It was hard to tell with that big grin, rather like Leo…he was like Leo? Now that was surprising. The first few dens were already taken, and after one particularly surprising case where one boy hissed viciously when they entered, Thorne made sure he wasn’t the one looking into the dens anymore. He followed closely behind Patches as he bounced into one particularly quiet group of dens, and then started to close his eyes as he expected some Tail to hop out and chase them out again, judging from the sound of held breath, May was expecting the same event. Nothing happened. The moss shined noncommittally. It was empty.  
“Woo-hoo!” Patches thrust his fists into the air, “Its empty, guys! Guys! First one to get to a den gets it!” Rules spoken, he suddenly disappeared from the group and darted into the closest den, claiming it as his own with a triumphant, “It's mine!” Without a second thought, Thorne rushed forward as the thudding of Garm's feet started to chase him, and pointed to the next closest den for Hana to follow before diving in himself! He won…what exactly? He was going to get a place to sleep anyway, why were they racing for this? May groaned in disappointment and puffed her cheeks out at Thorne with a hiss, there was his reward. “Its good exercise. I suppose that much.” Winter spoke aloud with a detached air, as if thinking aloud. Good exercise, yeah right. She was walking leisurely along while everybody else had ran, she must have decided that her den would be furthest from the entrance. Their rooms decided, Thorne wandered in, again marveling at how much bigger the room was than his previous one, and started taking note at what he had in here. There was a bed, again large, lined like a bird’s nest with what looked like grasses and feathers. Hana didn’t need a bed, the moment she walked into the room she squawked with glee and shakily climbed the rushed wall. After a moment to ascertain that her legs supported her, and giggling at her upside down face as she hung upside down and chattered her teeth in what he knew was a gesture of amusement at her own vision, Thorne continued his own exploration of the room.  
Food was already laid out on a stuck out, smooth rock for Dragon and human, another helping of raw Tic-tics for Hana, and some gaggle of various Season Fruits with what looked like cooked avian meat on the side. Had the Roc already been cooked? He found himself click his tongue in disappointment when he took a bit, rather generic taste that he had gotten used to as a hatchling, it was chicken. Good enough. “Hana, you see this?” He cranes his neck back and found her eyes glimmering like the blue sky as she wrapped herself in her wings and shook in anticipation. “Not coming down even for food, huh?” Thorne asked her, getting his answer as she let out a short bark and shook her tail, “Alright, alright, think fast!” And she did. Her snout shot out faster than he could see as he tossed the critter upward, and the cracking of bones signaled her appreciation with his assistance given her legs were currently weakened. The boy waited patiently as she lapped at her teeth and tip of the wings, waiting for her eyes to meet his before flinging another within her reach. Most might have found the process boring, but it was therapeutic to him, a simple task that barely required his input but made the great creature before him love him all the same, the idea made him smile. The smile lingered even as his hands settled on empty rock, “Huh? Aww…Hana, it’s gone, you gonna be alright up there?” Her small growl spoke that she would adore saying no, but the Dragon relented and hid her face in her wings, where a deep breathing signaled her attempt to fall asleep. At least she wasn’t as weirded out in their new sleeping conditions that he was. He had to go to sleep too, the sun must have been setting by now, and they were flying once again tomorrow. He needed to be ready for another situation like this.  
Thus, he devoured the food before him, hunched over it as he ate with less manners than the Dragon currently snored above him. Only when his hands hit emptiness did he realize he had no more, and he whimpered in hunger induced sadness, he’d have to eat more than usual when the sun rose again. “Ok, Hana?” She didn’t reply obviously, but the fact that her breathing halted told him that she was listening, “Good night.” She released a soft cooing, and he felt his heart rise almost painfully. He couldn’t let her get hurt out there, ever. She would never have to land like that again, and she'd never get torn apart like how Wisk and Mark got injured. These thoughts kept swirling in his head as he curled in his new bed, cushioning his head as his brain attempted to make the connection that he was supposed to sleep here.  
“Good night everyone!” Patches staggeringly loud voice shattered the silence of the dens, bouncing around the stone walls, even reaching into neighboring dens if the grumbles were any indication. Thorne would imagine the boy would stop there, but no, he just kept going, “And thanks for flying with me, it was fun…also thank you for telling stories as well, and not telling anybody that I…cried.” Thorne smirked and raised his voice, “You’re welcome.” And thought that his words would be the end of it, but no, not to May, “I’d never do that to you Patches!” She gasped as if the idea itself was evil, “But if we're thanking people I’d like to thank Winter and Thorne! You guys really saved me, I really thought I was going to die back there.” Thorne felt a distinct desire to snap at the chattering duo, his whole body hurt really bad and the need to sleep was very much pushing at him, but he forced himself to answer at a calm tone, “Again, you’re welcome. I just did what I could.” Winter sounded as if she were in the same predicament he was in, answering with a very stilted, “It was the least I could do, skies watch upon you as you sleep.” The tiny nudge from her words seemed to come across well enough, for May paused a moment before calling out, “Sweet dreams!” and going silent. Thank goodness, Thorne sighed before laying his head down deeper and no other distractions interrupted his decent into sleep other than a strange chill in the air…  
\--  
“She’s breaking!” Instead of somebody else waking the boy, now Thorne's own yell wrenched the other three out of their respective beds. The air within was unnaturally frigid, but their focus was more on the fact that Thorne was pelting for the entrance of their den like a madman, tripping over himself in his frantic rush. Patches, the closest to the entrance, caught the smaller boy, who started twisting like a wild animal caught in a trap. “Thorne, hey, Thorne! Listen!” One harsh shake, and at least Thorne stopped trying to escape, looking up at him with teary eyes and babbling once more, “S-she's breaking! Hana! I-I have to get Leo! He'll know what to do!” Immediately afterwards, he collapsed into shaky sobs, “She can’t break, she’s my Dragon!” May skidded to a halt next to Thorne and, completely unprompted, placed a comforting hand on his back, “It's ok Thorne. She’ll be fine. W-we just gotta see her, so we can help too!” Thorne's head whipped between the two, they weren’t even trained in taking care of a Dragon, what could they do that Leo couldn’t!? Still, he nodded and turned his back on the entrance.  
Patches released him, and a thought came to Thorne’s mind of darting for Leo once more now that he was free, yet he hurried over to Hana’s resting place, “I don’t know what happened, it’s just…she spat this weird liquid and-and she got hit in the chest by Mark so she might be breaking and I didn’t even notice! I’m awful! But I can’t lose her!” Somebody else was already at his den however, and his rambling cut off into a better composed, “W-Winter? What are you doing here?” The girl turned as if it were the most normal thing in the world and answered with a reply that made him blink, “Hana will be fine, do not worry. She has simply…grown.” What? And what did that mean for Hana!? He pushed past the girl, who sidestepped easily and waited by the entrance as Patches and May also darted through, clearly curious at their denmate’s predicament. The resulting sight within took their breaths away. If the gleaming moss was beautiful, it made whatever was going on here even more gorgeous.  
Frost coated the floor, nearly sending Thorne into a tumble before he caught himself. Ice crystals hung from the ceiling like freezing stalagmites, shimmering in the mosses' dim light like some ethereal weapon. But the thing that really caught Thorne's eyes was what had happened to Hana. Like Garm giving off heat, we was now letting off a freezing chill into the air like some living blizzard. Something had also happened to her body, one that he assumed had happened to Garm as well, but was expertly hidden by his fur. Eyes, blue pinpricks, had appeared on her body, they looked unclean. One nestled on her chest, another right between and behind her eyes. There were multiples of this light lining her flanks and even one particularly conspicuous one on the tip of her tail. One might have been too surprised by this oddity before them, but Thorne simply murmured, “So that’s where I was looking out of.” Those were the eyes he had seen out of when he and Hana were flying, giving him the ability to watch her back in any situation, the only difference was they were all out from under her skin now. She had grown, having fulfilled her connection to Thorne and growing stronger for it. “She looks…amazing!” Patches predictably praised the whole situation, hopping up and down like a child who had been offered all his dreams in full. May wasn’t much better, “It's ice! I’ve never seen it before, but this is ice! Isn’t it Thorne, look, look!” Hana was asleep once more, grumbling in her doze in a manner that would suggest she didn’t appreciate Thorne’s yelling over such a perfectly natural growing situation.  
She looked peaceful, and as Thorne watched, a clear liquid inched its way out from between her clenched teeth and plummeted to the ground. It froze on contact, spiraling up in another glimmering ice crystal. “S-so, she’s fine. Right? She’s fine, right Winter?” Hana looked peaceful, he could see that she had no open wounds and wasn’t freezing over, and her breathing sounded normal. She wasn’t hurt, that much was clear. Winter shuffled in, arms tucked in and shivering slightly, grimacing at the air, “I believe your Dragon is perfectly fine Thorne, she simply didn’t breath Dragonflame while we were fighting the Roc and thus, released it as she was sleeping. It must have built up, being her first breath of it.” May blinked in disbelief, “B-but, I thought Dragons spat flame for their Dragonflame, or at least smoke. Isn’t that why we even call it Dragonflame anymore?” Winter’s eyes flickered in amusement as she shook her head and gestured around the room, “Indeed, those are the most common manifestations of Dragonflame, but it have been known to take the forms of many different things such as dirt, shards of metal, or…ice.” Explanation complete, Winter turned to Thorne and nodded at him, “Congratulations Thorne, your Dragon just breathed her first Dragonflame. I think I might add that they rarely show in such a…spectacular fashion, so this likely won’t happen again.” Thorne nodded frantically, as if the words would lose value if he didn’t acknowledge them, “Ok, ok. Thank you. You hear Hana, you’re fine.” All she did was snort as if her spewing ice wasn’t a shocking event, and cover her eyes more protectively, clearly done with the loud humans interrupting her rest. Thorne cupped his face in his hands and let out a long sight, “So she’s fine, she’s fine. Hehe, guess I worried you guys for nothing. But it was stupid, wasn’t it? I-I am gonna be fine. I’ll do some cleaning, and…and then I’ll go to sleep. You guys can go, I’ll be fine now.”  
\--  
Against what he thought, it really was fine. The cold in the air made it rather easy to fall asleep, and the lining of his bed kept him from freezing. The only problem was that most of the ice he had discarded on the ground melted as he slept, well, it wasn’t a problem for him…he didn’t walk on the slick floor, but somebody else did. “Hey Thorne, wake up it’s already-whoa!” Thorne snapped up as a dull thud woke him from sleep, and a shrill cry from above told him that Hana was awake as well. Patches sprawled out of the stone floor, Mark lingering by the entrance and letting out worried brays as his human stumbled and slithered on the floor, still somehow managing to keep his mouth running, “Thorne! Help! I’m stuck and I can’t get up!”  
The other boy simply breathed a sigh and narrowed his eyes down upon floundering Tail. Thankfully for Patches, Hana was far more willing to assist and crashed down beside the boy. Thorne shot up, certain that she’d injure her legs slipping around like Patches, but finding his fears were unneeded. Hana’s thin, long claws gripped the stone expertly, and she seized the floor with the tips of her wings as she fluttered over to Patches, who she greeted with a loving nuzzle, to his chuckles. “Hey Thorne, I think your Dragon loves me too!” Already awake, Thorne simply rolled his eyes, “Oh please, she just can’t stand to see such weak prey and not eat it up.” Hana still possessed her many eyes, they looked like jewels he had haphazardly scattered on her during the night, but no intelligence appeared within them. Alright then, she was growing up like him, but right now their most recent problem was getting Patches out of here…and figuring out how Thorne was supposed to get out of here too. A strange knowledge lingered in his mind. This was no doubt the first time he had seen the icy floor, never mind having to walk across it, but while Patches yelped and skidded unnecessarily, Thorne settled himself with both hands on his bed and feet grounded firmly and the pushed. While his body twisted and he nearly pitched face first into the stone on his slide over, he bumped softly into Hana’s flank and hosted himself off the floor with her shoulder, before barking out, “Ok Hana, get us out of here.” Without claws, he knew, he couldn’t be trusted to walk on this floor without some kind of accident unless he was on his belly. Yet Hana could traverse these conditions without a problem, thus he crept up her back and perched on all fours as she trotted on out, Patches clinging to her head as he slid precariously next to her. May and Winter were waiting outside, and May possessed a huge smile on her face, “You know, I tried to warn him, ice and boots don’t really get along all that well, unless you have claws like Hana.” The subject of the conversation heard and proudly raised her legs, balancing on the other as she gazed into the claws like they were the most beautiful things she had ever seen. “Whoa! Hey, stop moving like that, I’ll fall!” Patches whimpered as his legs shook and slid dangerously, Thorne himself was safe but didn’t appreciate the sudden tilt Hana had taken on, “C'mon Hana, we're all gonna eat stone if we don’t get out of here because you were preening yourself.” Could a Dragon pout? Because apparently Hana could, frowning her points of teeth downwards and swiping her tail against the ground harshly before clicking forwards. Mark nearly stepped onto the slippery floor as he droned a long note and tried to greet his human, only being turned away as Patches hissed out a warming and waved away the dimmer Dragon, who huffed out a sad breath at the slow pace.  
The process continued past the den slightly, where it ended at some strategically located cracks near the entrance, where the water had presumably drained downwards. The absolute moment they were past these cracks, Patches broke free, only stopping to embrace his rescuer’s head before marching over to May, “How could you make me be rescued by a Dragon? You should have at least been in there with me!” Garm snorted at Patches’ mock fury, and May dove under the furry Dragon, “Geez you're cold! Literally! Wow! And sorry, cracking my head open on Thorne's floor didn’t exactly sound like a fun time for me, but go you!” Thorne kept out of the conversation the best he could, mouth in a straight line as he watched the new Tails act like children, “You should have left him there Hana, he’s a lost cause.” He quipped at Hana dully, receiving a snort in reply. A tap on his shoulder forced his exasperation to the back of his mind as he met Winter face to face, “We woke up early for a reason.” She stated, face as serious as ever, but when was she not serious? “Oh? It’s early? I didn’t realize.” Given how there was no sunlight what so ever down here, he just assumed he overslept. “It was strange, a Longtail personally came to talk to us, to request us in particular to fly with him. I believe you and him were acquaintances, he was called Leo, I believe.” Immediately Thorne snapped to attention, “Really, you sure?” She nodded stiffly, a movement mimicked by Wisk, and Thorne let a smile split his face, a gesture he never noticed Hana started to mimic behind him as well, “Then what’re we keeping him waiting for? Thanks Winter. Hey guys! We’re leaving with or without you, are you coming or what!?”  
His words stopped the mock argument before it escalated, Patches had just devoted himself to crawling under Garm’s legs to chase down May when they both poked their heads out in curiosity at him. “I’m serious.” Thorne called to them as he started at his usual jog towards the entrance, Winter keeping up with him with dreadfully long strides of her limbs, her Dragon once again mimicking her movements. A tumbling sounded behind them and Thorne allowed himself a smile as Garm chased after them with Patches and May clinging to the fur around his neck and shaking like some ruff of decorations. Mark was behind them somewhere, but they paid no heed to the slower Dragon, Patches was keeping an eye on him and the Dragon was clearly loyal, even if they lost him Thorne could imagine the steady creature would eventually find them. “Move it, move it! We gotta get going!” Patches barked, as if nobody else was trying to get up and fly, but the bounding Garm deterred any from trying to talk back to him, if only because Garm was already past by the time they thought up a retort to him. Thorne stayed by Garm’s side and kept his head lower than his shoulder as he heard some older Tails manage to yell after them with shrill insults, incomprehensible to his ears within the tunnels but it was pretty obvious that they were directing it towards the children who were up far too early and making a ruckus far too loud for the reverberating cavern…plus the air shifted from cold to hot and back again as Garm and Hana burst through and awakened Tails with groans and whimpers. To say they ended up waking up everybody within radius of their noise wasn’t an exaggeration, but Patches and May laughed and giggled as they passed, waving gleefully to the barely awake faces that had to witness the beyond strange sight of darting Dragons with humans either clinging to their bulk or hidden by their bodies, and then the stranger sensations of hot and cold mixing in the previously mellow air. When they got out, the sun was just barely pouring into the stone bowl that held the Dragons and various types of Tails, and Thorne was blushing slightly but not entirely ashamed of their romp through the tunnels, even if he was certain they just killed plenty of chances to make a first impression past killing a Roc. It didn’t matter anyway, they’d be gone the whole day, all of them.  
“Where did he say to meet?” Thorne asked curiously, shaking as Hana’s body left him feeling chilled, her many eyes still staring dead eyed from her body. Winter shrugged, “I don’t know this information.” What? Thankfully, she continued, “He said that he would meet us when he was ready. I assume this means we idle until then.” Well, Thorne couldn’t exactly hold this looseness against him, this sounded exactly like what Leo would do, he just wished Winter told them this before they had run like madmen, he was already getting tired. Suddenly, a grumbling sound like a Dragon filled the air, and everyone startled, heads whipping around like wild animals. “Hmm. It appears I am hungry.” Winter’s declaration solved the mystery of the sound, and she set off toward the much closer than before Center. “Wow! Garm only makes that sound when he’s really mad!” May spouted abruptly, kicking Garm’s shoulders to guide him forward. Once again, a thought that had preoccupied the boy constantly resurfaced. What was Leo thinking when he put them all together? Thorne’s new acquaintances were all so odd, but brave, had he been thinking of Tails meant to catch creatures like Rocs? If so, it was a very dangerous endeavor. But, admittedly, it was a very rewarding endeavor. Judging from the sheer size of the Roc and the fact it was clean, he could tell this particular catch would last a while, and he descended upon their hard earned catch. The meat was already cooked and stripped away from undesirable parts, and they got the first pick! How nice! Not forgetting Hana’s own contribution to the battle, Thorne started back up their little game, tossing the meat toward her open maw. Normally, there wasn’t mixing of Dragon and human food, but he couldn’t resist. It couldn’t have been much anyhow, Hana was a small Dragon, this couldn’t consume too much food. At least until he looked to the side and saw everybody else was copying him! Well, everybody but Patches. Surprisingly, Mark and him were content to munch on some Season Fruits and an oddly green mess of what Thorne assumed was grass for Mark. “What are you guys doing?” He hissed, “Garm’s huge! He’s gonna eat too much!” May just tilted her head, and tossed another strip of meat to be snatched up, “He’s not that much bigger than Hana, so it’s going to be fine, see?” And Winter? Winter didn’t even offer the dignity of a reply, pretending not to hear as Wisk hissed and swallowed happily. A shadow passed over them, and Thorne screamed shortly before blurting out, “I didn’t mean to! Hana thought it looked good!” even before he knew what was going on. “Really? Guess I’ll have to forgive you Tails then.” Thorne covered his face as the others waved cheerfully at the arriving Longtail, but the flushed skin was still visible from between his fingers, “Geez! You gotta warn me Leo! That’s a mean thing to do!” A hand settled on his head, and he relaxed, bringing down his hands and smiling sheepishly at the man.  
A delicate finger tapped Leo on the shoulder, and the thin Winter wrestled her way between them, nodding respectively at each before talking, “Greeting, Longtail Leo. We have arrived, as you have seen, and I request a swipe of a tail interlude so that we don’t get sick and you can explain our task for today. I suppose we should also feed your Dragon as well.” There she was, on top of things. Even Leo looked down at her in blank faced shock before patting her on the head, a gesture that made her frown and tolerate for only a few seconds before she twisted away, and laughing lowly and freely, “I’ll take that request then, sweetheart, except for feeding Og. He'll eat on the way, or he’ll devour everything before everybody else, isn’t that right, big guy?” Abruptly, a mountainous projection moved and Og opened his eyes. It didn’t matter how many times Thorne saw him, he was certain it would never be usual to see the giant simply breath and send a gust of wind down upon the hapless humans, and the small boy shrunk behind the owner of such a beast.  
Even Hana didn’t react quite the way he remembered her interacting with other Dragons. She just…stared…and chattered her teeth in a dull manner, not aggressive but clearly not interacting with the huge Dragon. And not just her, Wisk, Garm, and Mark all broke away from their meals to gape upon their superior, and only gape. Leo appeared satisfied with such a reaction and raised his voice to the loudest Thorne had ever heard it, leaving his ears ringing horribly, “Og! Go ahead and chill out for a little! I’m going to chat with these guys, is that ok with you?” The enormous Dragon glared down at them, or at least Thorne thought Og was glaring, even Hana’s reptilian face was easier to read than the stone wall that was Og. Leo seemed to take the look as something meaningful and answered as if prompted, “Great, it won’t be that long, sit tight!” Of returned to being another rising off the stone bowl as Leo sat right down and started beckoning around himself, “C'mon, c’mon, settle down, all of you.”  
Thorne was the first down, taking his honored seat as close to Leo as possible. Winter mirrored him, though he thought that such an action was likely for some thoughtful idea of knowing the task front and back than of any real like towards Leo, not like him. Patches sat with May side by side, each respectively chewing on their chosen meals right in front of Leo. Thorne sniffed, the least they could do was keep their mouths closed. Leo looked around at them momentarily, before voicing a question that made Thorne blink and tilt his head, “Do I need to tell you that it’s already going to be dangerous business? I hope that it’s obvious.” The breath of Og washed over them once more, the great Dragon had one eye open and was watching the proceedings before him with some dim curiosity, “And if you know this, you know that I can’t force a Tail to do a task unless not doing so would result in death of some kind, so everybody here doesn’t have to do what I ask. You can leave now if you don’t want to get into something dangerous like yesterday.” Now that was untrue! Given how honorable Leo was and how he always helped him out, Thorne would be hard-pressed to say that he didn’t owe Leo anything! “Not even a question, I’m coming Leo!” and Leo smiled, there was a smile he was always trying to see! He was coming, but the big question were the others. May’s face was white and her hands trembled, she was the one under the foot of the Roc, so Thorne supposed she had enough right to hesitate. He couldn’t see Winter’s face from where he sat, but her silence was telling. An inappropriate pride swelled in his chest, driving a smirk onto his face momentarily before he wiped it off with momentary effort. Guess he was the only one brave enough to face such a task, and he'd get to hang around Leo all by himself, they could catch up!  
His thoughts cut off as a drawl filled the air. “Sure, I’ll go.” Patches answered around the Season Fruits, “I got nothing better to do, better make it fun at least.” Winter seemed to take this as a certain signal and bluntly spoke the moment Patches was done, “I will accompany you too, Wisk and I will find no greater honor than assisting in something dangerous, so long as this task is actually important.” All that was left was May, still shaking all on her lonesome and sucking in deep breaths. Contrary to his pride, something else awakened in response to Thorne’s acquaintance’s clear distress, pity, “Hey, you don’t have to it you don’t want-“ “I’ll do it. I can’t just grab fruit after all that, right? Especially if my friends are coming too.” She nodded frantically as she spoke, fiery hair whipping the air, as if her actions might convince herself she was doing the right thing. Leo clapped pointingly before anybody could raise an objection or a question, “Is that right? Good news Og, they’re all coming, aren’t you happy!?” Another breath of wind, this one carrying a scent of sweetness, so did that mean Og was happy with this? He hoped so, because everybody was coming, the previous fight could answer to the skies on how they justified yet another dangerous flight. “We are all in.” Winter announced, “A pleasing result to me, I might add. Now will we get some semblance of an explanation?”  
Surprisingly to Thorne, Leo didn’t answer immediately to the affirmative, and he met May and Patches confused look with an equally baffled one as Leo simply said, “Yeah, yeah, I’m getting to that. Let’s fly, I’ll explain on the way.” For the most part, Winter didn’t seem ready to let such a half made answer go and shadowed Leo as he swung to his feet and started wandering toward Og's claws, “Wait. Can you wait, Longtail Leo? Sir. I for one think that we should know all details so we can choose proper-“ “Get on your Dragons, we're going.” Leo sharply cut off the young girl, fixing her with an amused glance, one that made that foreign rage flare up once again. How could he look at her like that!? She wasn’t stupid! She was right! They needed to know what the heck they were doing so they could actually do it! Thorne swallowed against the bile rising in his throat before it could become words, no, this was Leo, he couldn’t yell at Leo over something so stupid.  
Winter stopped in her tracks and fixed Thorne with a narrowed glare, “I believe you made me believe this Leo was kind, judging from your satisfaction at being around him.” Thorne raised his hands protectively, “Oh, he is way better than Ursa! He’s usually nice, trust me, this must be a bad day for him. Maybe it’s the dangerous task?” His feeble explanation clearly didn’t make an impact on Winter, who wrinkled her nose at him, an expression he knew for a fact she hadn't pulled on anybody else, and waved Wisk over to her side. Patches and May didn’t seem as put off by the situation, but they still fixed their packs and mounted their Dragons with small hesitation. Naturally, Thorne didn’t, still, he did operate with more than a little confusion at Leo’s resistance to explain, was the task really that dangerous? Hana rolled one eye back to look at him as he climbed on and released a tiny chittering until he pet her gently on the head, “Its ok, Leo’s just a little nervous today, nothing too bad, ok girl?” The moment he connected he could feel the doubt in her mind and countered with a burst of anger, it was fine, everything was fine, they would be fine. Why was she so nervous about all this!?  
Thorne's sight increased predictably once more, and he could say with great certainty that he was seeing out of the many unclean eyes, which he couldn’t see but had sparked to life the moment he completed his connection to Hana. Garm shimmered slightly, in the same areas that Hana’s new eyes were placed, they must have been under his fur the whole time. However, even with his heavily increased sight, he still couldn’t see Leo once Og had picked him up and guided him to his back, but he could certainly hear him just fine. “Tails, fly first, Og will ground you if you fly under him, hear me. Don’t fly under him.” The gigantic wings revealed themselves and stretched out menacingly. No problem, Thorne didn’t want to be under something that would block out the skies anyhow. Ominous warning aside, Leo waited patiently as the far smaller Dragons climbed up the sides of the Dens, leapt, and soared upwards. “Don’t stop going up! Keep going until Og flies! We gotta go, before Ursa shows and nags me again.” Once again, Garm's radiation of heat was in their favor, and Thorne expected their upwards climb to end in about a few seconds. He was still expecting it after a solid minute of soaring. The clouds looked touchable from here, and it was started to get tough to breathe, how far did they have to be in the first place!?  
He got his answer as the stony Og finally started moving. The giant shifted and gathered his haunches onto the edge of the bowl, and still moved painstakingly slowly as he put his legs on one structure, and then moved it, and then moved it back. It was all the more surprising when he moved, and my did he move. Og didn’t appear to put pressure with his muscles, but he still blurred forward far, far away from the dens. His body soared over the trees, easily bringing him away from his launching point, and his wings weren’t even fully open yet. When they did, they had catastrophic consequences for everything underneath him, in particular, the trees. With Hana’s eyes, Thorne could understand the desire Leo had to have them fly away from his Dragon. The winds whipped up from Og simply flying resulted in the greenery under the giant to tear from their roots and swirl underneath him in a terrifying display of strength. Just one second underneath that barrage, and Hana would likely be torn to pieces or smashed flat. Just as quickly as he destroyed his surroundings, Og took to the skies, rising high enough so that his huge wingbeats only resulted in trees wavering as he passed. Were they supposed to follow him? Near him? Would they get whipped out of the sky by his wings? Hana’s wings trembled slightly but dipped downwards, and the others followed his lead, following close on his tail. Garm followed the closest, and Thorne distinctly remembered the previous day, but this time around really hoped that the big Dragon would pull Hana back if they ended up plummeting out of the sky. Despite the fact that Leo was still just a speck on his Dragon's back, Thorne halted and lingered near the clouds. Og was looking up at them again, and Hana’s mind was already starting to fill out with a flightiness that made Thorne's heart pound painfully in his throat. Judging from a sigh behind them, Garm and the others greatly appreciated his discretion. Leo didn’t call them closer, so he hoped their distance was fine. Og's eyes returned to the world before him, and blinked lazily. Thorne had the impression that the giant Dragon was flying at an agonizingly slow pace for its size, but was allowing itself slowness for the Dragons that flapped desperately to keep up with the single flap that flung Og a huge distance, only stopping on occasion to make sure he wouldn’t lose the young Tails. Thorne wasn’t a Longtail, but he could tell they were heading in direct contrast to the direction they had flown yesterday, carrying back a Roc had burned that path into his memory. They were also heading toward a portion of land that was strangely not green, and jumped up into the air like the dens, but pointed. They looked like the perches of Roc's, Leo couldn’t have brought them to fight something big like that again, they just got lucky it was injured last time! Anxiety started to plague his and Hana's minds, there was no green things here, they couldn’t have just flown here to get fruit! Heedless to his fear, Og drove ever onwards, and shockingly didn’t stop over the huge, pointy land, not even looking down to observe the landscape.  
Hurriedly, Thorne turned his gaze upward. Surely they had nothing to worry about from below with the gigantic Og below them, but the clouds could hide anything! But the sky was so beautiful. Bluer than Hana’s eyes, than the ice she spewed last night. Hana’s wings started to burn as they flew on, but Thorne simply watched the skies. Everything had to be fine, Leo would protect them just fine, and he got to look at the sky all by himself. It was going to be a nice day, he just knew it. “Where do you think we're going?” May whispered as well she could, considering they were flying at a breakneck pace, but Thorne heard, he found he was hearing lots of things much better while with Hana. Was he hearing out of her ears too? “I don’t know, Leo says he usually flies by himself, but he always brings good things back. Maybe he’s going to show us his secret!?” Thorne’s voice started rising in his excitement, and he started bouncing in barely contained glee. That had to be it, right, right? “Eh, I’m not sure about that Thorne.” Patches’ voice wavered as Mark swept from side to side, “I’m…I’m not seeing anything that we can eat. I’m not seeing anything even Mark can eat!” Thorne swiveled his head in a way that he hoped would convey waving his hands in an irritated fashion that he felt at the moment, “Who cares? Og knows what he eats, and Leo wouldn’t let his Dragon starve, same as you, we just gotta follow him wherever he wants, we could get another Roc like before. You just gotta be patient now!” The feel of a disgruntled group pretty much filled the air and Thorne made Hana pointingly fly forwards, ahead of the whole group. They were all being so weird today! Why were they fine with that stranger Ursa but couldn’t even muster the courage to follow Leo, who Thorne knew for a fact would take care of them just as well as he took care of Thorne as a hatchling, and mind you haven’t gotten them stuck fighting an avian monstrosity yet! Hana looked over her shoulder as they flew, making them flap in a lopsided way as she crooned sadly at her fellow Dragons. There was that knowledge again, she was conveying sadness and loneliness the only way she knew how. “Stop it Hana!” He spat, guiding her wings to flap faster, “Why do you care so much!? Why don’t you care about Leo? He helped raise us even before you hatched! So I know him, he’s nice and he kept me away from people that would make me stupid or weak, so don’t look at them like that!” Hana relented, looking straight forward, but he could still hear choked whimpers inch up her throat any time Garm barked in his reptilian way or Patches called hopefully after them. They didn’t understand anything, he'd just have to be the one in Leo’s corner from now on, he was his friend! Og abruptly ended his thoughts as he suddenly descended with no warning, leaving Leo howling above the winds to “Follow!” And follow did Thorne do, Hana’s wings folding inwards before more or less falling towards the ground, but in a far more controlled way than what had happened yesterday. The crackling of wings drove his gaze backwards to see the others were right behind him, good. He wouldn’t know what to do if they tried to fly away after all this distance.  
The subject of their drop became very obvious very quickly. A gigantic crevice yawned open within the earth, terrible and eager to swallow up anything that dared invade its space. And Thorne and the Dragons were heading right for it. Instantly, Thorne felt a certain dread that was mirrored by Hana, who jerked backwards and started hovering over the abyss, an action that he didn’t fight, being rather frightened by this himself. Her mind was nothing but a maelstrom of strange thoughts and even stranger sensations of cold fear, driving Hana to hiss as the air around her coated her scales with frost. Nothing could get near this land, nothing good would come out of such an occasion. Again, Thorne knew this without thinking, but still let himself feel a painful curiosity about the terrifying thing before him. Was this where Leo got food for Og, given he was so hugely big? Was this where the supposed dangerous thing lurked against all odds, and they’d face it the moment they descended? The many possibilities sent his mind abuzz, but he still didn’t move, the fear of everything paralyzing him.  
Og landed. The crevice was easily able to swallow the giant easily, wings spread and all, thus he landed claws first of the outcropping on the edge. For a moment of terror, the rocky face crumbled and shuddered as if it were about to fall, and Og swung his great tail to keep his balance sufficient as the world steadied itself against his weight. Then, it was over, and Og clung to the wall and frowned deeply downwards. Thorne couldn’t see anything within the depths of the crevice, so he assumed the displeasure was at his lack of sight. Unconsciously, Thorne directed his gaze at a movement that started to wiggle at the base of Og's back, a repetitive motion he noticed only just now. There was an eye there, narrowed as if in disappointment and blinking on occasion. It was organic, living, and it’s colors were a deep green that belonged only in the forests. Was it blinking at him? Another wave of discomfort shuddered it’s way through Hana and Thorne desperately tried to look away from such an odd sight. Yet something else started to move in response to the jerking eye.  
Og’s head suddenly rose from the crevice's maw, and he searched the sky without making a sound. In a few moments, he had locked upon the hesitant shapes soaring above. For a few seconds, the giant Dragon made no move, eyes expectant and feeling as if they were glaring right upon Thorne, even if that was impossible with the distance between them. However, a reverberating sound started to plague Thorne’s ears, and he started shaking instinctively, pushing on Hana’s head to get her to start to dive once more. Too late. Not satisfied with just growling at their cowardice, Og roared. The very air shook at the sound and warped as his breath swirled around, Thorne couldn’t even focus on Og’s body, the sound twisting the air enough that the stony Dragon simply became an orange blob of color. And the the explosion of sound hit the little Dragons. Unable to cover his own ears, Thorne shrieked as the sound stabbed deep, his own agony rising as another feeling of pain arose from Hana, much more distinct and deep. Their combined senses compromised, the duo started to plummet, obediently following Og's order. Thorne desperately focused on his surroundings, seeing Garm starting to break down from the sound and drop like him. Wisk kept their wings open behind them, and Hana tilted her wings upwards to avoid the Dragon as it almost collided with her tail in its throes of pain. He couldn’t see Mark, but a blurred sounding moan above them signaled to him that at the very least, Patches was falling with them too.  
The first thing he wanted to do was disconnect from Hana and blink away the tears that flooded his still shut eyes. It hurt, his head felt like mush, and his ears rang horribly until he was certain he'd never hear again. Why would Og do that? That was so mean! They were coming he didn’t have to force them down after him! This time, Thorne embraced the outside anger and pulled his lips back until his teeth were on full display. This was not a very threatening show, at least for a human, but a Dragon? Unbeknownst to the boy, Hana had in fact copied the Tail, and parted her jaws to show her displeasure with this big, mean creature. At least, Thorne indulged this anger until he realized he was displaying such anger at Leo. Instantly, his face was reduced to a disconnected, blank face. He couldn’t look at Leo like that, he'd never pay him back for such a ride reaction just for rushing him and the others a little bit! Hana just managed to turn her head as he faltered, and crooned out a note of confusion before nudging him briefly. He could feel her desire to know what was wrong, and sighed into her back, “Its ok Hana.” His own voice didn’t sound real to him, echoing in the most distant way before he could actually understand his own words, “I was just being a little rude, you know?” Hana didn’t seem convinced, locking him with a glare that he thankfully couldn’t see, being connected to her, then turning her head back to the task at hand.  
Og seemed more than a little happy that they were now following him, and turned tail to proceed into the terribly scary gap. He moved like a lizard, clinging close to the wall and looking straight forward. Thorne could see his eye on his back was observing the rest of them, but didn’t seem to affect any of his actions. Case in point, Thorne yelped at the tail that nearly clipped Hana’s wings, and guided her far away from the swinging extremity. Except this meant flying straight into the blackness that appeared as a physical wall. Thorne's breath caught, and he struggled to even just bear with the idea of being in a place so unnatural to Hana. Hana was a flying beast that owned the sky, possessed all the gifts she needed to survive in the air. This mouth of the earth was not natural to her, she did not belong in the earth where she might suffocate or get trapped under. Thorne imagined that the crevice was alive, yawning open to devour Hana and him the moment he and her dropped their guard. There was its breath, ruffling his hair. And there was the smell of dampness, a warmth that was no where near as comfortable as Garm’s fiery warmth. Finally, there was the fangs. Thorne trembled as he kept a stern eye upon the teeth on the sides, rocky fangs that would surely tear them to pieces should Hana touch them. They’d be eaten. They were going to be eaten if they proceeded deeper…but he couldn’t resist Leo’s request, he couldn’t betray the Longtail like that, and Hana fell into the crevice.  
His hearing started to come back, and Thorne instantly started to puff in agony, sweat pouring down his face as it contorted into a grimace. May was no better, if fact she was worse. He heard her voice squeak out a shrill note before collapsing into rapid breaths that she attempted to smother in her Dragon's fur. Thorne could empathize, his own chest felt like there was no air left, and it was taking all his willpower to keep from sucking in breath like a dying person. “So…so w-where are we?” Patches voice wasn't outwardly frightened, but Thorne could hear a tiny trembling as he spoke. It was Hana’s ears, he supposed that he was borrowing her senses as well. That was nice. Winter’s voice trembled slightly as she spoke as well, “Indeed, I believe we are out of range of the dens by this point. I believe we are out of the range of civilized society by this point. And I also believe we deserve an explanation if you take us to such a frightening area. Thorne?” You know what was also nice? Showing how much better Leo responded to him, “Aww, they’re right Leo. Why not tell them? They might fly away if we don’t give them an explanation now.”  
Without missing a beat, the boy guided Hana downwards until she just barely managed to avoid being hit by a carelessly moving wing and settled at an odd plummeting glide near Og's eye, which rolled lazily to settle on her even as he completed the dangerous task of climbing. It made Thorne's heart pound painfully in his throat when he got this attention, it was scary to be so near this big of a monster, but it also made him glad to be noticed by a creature so big it could step on him, and it was Leo’s Dragon too! He was so caught up in his own emotions, he didn’t notice Hana’s teeth were chattering as if cold, and she kept trying to flap away from Og before being forced back into proximity. Nor did he notice her mind pushing at his own like a confused child. Why was he forcing her near this strange Dragon? Why was this supposedly nice Leo making them flap in a confined space? Why were they underground, where she would die cold and alone? Thorne noticed nothing, self-satisfactory ideas filling his mind as he waited for Leo to answer. “You know what? You guys have a point, I don’t want you to fly away from here.” Og grumbled like an old man, his eyes looking towards Leo with an angry air about them. “We're heading right towards a very dangerous piece of the world, but I’m sure you already know that, being where we are. But I am sure that none of you know, or have even seen what makes this place dangerous. Og and I find these things everywhere, and we’ve been marking wherever these things pop up. There. You guys see that light, look fast, stay behind Og's head.”  
Hana twirled in her flight pattern as she fluttered over the protecting Dragon's head, though she still didn’t seem to like the closeness she had been forced to indulge for her human. The light that Leo was referring to was an incredibly faint pinprick, but one that grew in intensity as they approached. Hana’s wings trembled, and a new emotion started to bubble in the back of Thorne's head, one that made him tremble in a completely different way than how he had entered this underground trap, she was excited. “There it is.” Leo stated solemnly, and narrowed his eyes down upon his enemy, “It's a Source.” Paying no heed to the strange name, Thorne's eyes widened at the foreign thing before him, even more foreign than the emotions that had started to slumber within him when he flew. This thing was alien. At first glance, he saw another one of those rocky peaks they had flown over on their way here, sticking straight up at an agonizingly perfect point. Then his quick eyes started to note the difference in details. For one thing, he wasn’t sure rock tended to be a starkly different color from the rocks around it, the “Source” being a bright white that would make clouds envious. He was also pretty sure that rock didn’t glow in the dark, especially at the end of such a dark drop into the earth. The more he looked at it, the more things he could see that were just wrong. Veins shuddered within the body of this Source, extending outwards to plunge into the ground and send it into a small glowing. Thorne knew it was wrong, and once again his teeth were on display, but this particular action wasn’t mirrored by Hana. He didn’t notice, her face not noticeable with the range of vision he had with Hana.  
Leo nodded at Thorne's reaction, “Yes, it’s scary, isn’t it? Good for you sweethearts to feel that way. All I know about these things is that they pop up out of nothingness, are not alive in the way we think something is alive, and will proceed to do one task. They turn anything they touch unclean.” Thorne couldn’t help the gasp that shook his frame, and felt well justified in his reaction. Alongside their faithful Dragons, the concept of cleanness and uncleanness was quite literally the only things that kept humanity alive. Uncleanness most of all. Food was decided if it had value as human food only if, and only if, it wasn't possessed by the following traits. If it had scraps of metal on it, it was not to be touched. If it bled black or blue, it was a great for a Dragon. If it clicked and shuddered rather than possess an actual heart, it was poison. Winter stammered slightly, “B-but that means…it's poisoning us, we can’t eat unclean food!” Leo laughed harshly, and Thorne spotted Winter hiding behind Wisk's head as she realized her incredibly simple words, “Right you are, so you do understand the danger of it all.” His voice wasn't outwardly angry, but started to drop as he continued, “I swear, Ursa's going to be the death of us if she keeps telling us not to strike at these things first. We got to tear them up, right at the roots, like a tree, but I can’t.” Now this drew confused cries from the children around him, but Leo stayed perfectly natural as he answered in a situation that threatened to turn ugly, “Don’t worry, it’s not ‘cause I’m scared. Og's special. I’m sure you saw his eyes, but did you see? They’re completely clean. Og’s a clean Dragon. So we can’t touch the Sources, we can’t risk the only clean Dragon we got going bad. So you guys have to destroy it. Kill it.” Thorne…could understand that, of course he could. It wasn’t wrong to want to preserve something as special as Og, who looked incredibly powerful. Yes, this was the only way they could do this.  
Thorne settled on gazing upon the alien object, and stared as an odd thought started to emerge from his mind. He wanted to get closer, to…touch?...this odd thing. It was Hana’s thoughts. Fine thoughts, they were, they sounded like good ideas. He started to allow Hana to drift downwards, eyes fixed upon the pulsating construct. It wasn’t alive in the way they thought? How could that be? It wasn’t breathing, sure, but he was sure there was a heart in there if it could pulse in such a way. He just had to touch it, and he could prove it. Hana didn’t fight the pull either, and her ears were no help in noting Leo’s words starting to get more and more desperate. Suddenly, Thorne pulled back with a gasp just as another shape blew past right towards the Source. It was Mark, screaming out a drone that didn’t convey fear or rage, but in fact displayed happiness of the greatest kind. Patches wasn’t fooled however, and pulled frantically at his Dragon’s head to no avail, practically falling towards the dangerous object. The moment he crossed the boundary of Og’s head, the Source started to move. The point fell apart from the top, only letting out a smooth whoosh with its near perfect movements. Then Patches started to scream as the movements started to become more sinister.  
A mass of tails erupted from the Source's core, and waved around in the air. The near clear extremities reached around in the air momentarily before reaching out to greet the flying Dragon as he got nearer and nearer. No, they weren’t even tails. Not like a Dragon's tail. They were tendrils. Arms. Tentacles. Thorne could remember a strange creature that some Tails had gotten on a hunt before, and aquatic animal that appeared to have many tails, tails that were actually arms. It had smelled terrible, tasted watery, but looked horrifyingly remarkable. They had called it an octopus, and right now Thorne was thinking that it looked a lot like an octopus, reaching out for its prey. “Patches! Jump!” Thorne yelled uselessly, starting to direct Hana’s flaps so that she might dive toward the slower Dragon and push him away. Hana was fast and small, she had a better chance of escaping those tentacles than Mark. Then Og was there. In a smooth motion, his gigantic head leaned down and grasped the tip of Mark’s tail. The Dragon's descent toward the Source stopped instantly, and Og threw his quarry back just in time for the tentacles to halt and hang in the air uselessly. Mark tumbled helplessly in the air but managed to avoid falling past the threshold, flapping his wings to fly over Wisk’s head before Og could necessitate rescuing the young Dragon. Patches' face was white and the color of watered down dirt, and he curled once more against Mark’s back, fists clenched into Mark’s fur until it looked painful. “Case in point. They’ll turn you into a metal monstrosity if they get you in that shell.” Leo chuckled, oblivious to Patches distress, “They’re dangerous, so you’re going to need to be fast.” The Source closed on itself, clicking together and continuing its pulsing as it returned to passiveness, uncaring to the fear that dominated the encounter.  
Thorne decided to take the lead, interrupting Leo with his own brand of instructions, “We’re going to rip that thing out of its roots guys, if you got Dragonflame, stay behind me, we're diving right in.” Only Garm inched forward at those words, but that was to be expected, Thorne didn’t remember anybody else having the ability to spew fire. “You guys,” Thorne jerked his chin towards where he last remembered Wisk and Mark to be gliding and hovering, “Will wait, once me and May weaken it, you guys will get in there and kill it!” Speech over, Thorne shifted his gaze hurriedly towards Leo. The Longtail's face was almost hidden from pressing against Og's back, but Thorne could see the corner of his mouth turn upwards, and his chest swelled with pride. So that’s how you gave orders! His gaze returned to the others, and Thorne noted with some surprise that May was shaking fitfully as Garm looked longer and longer at the Source. “Um…er…May. Fly behind me, no matter what. Ok? I’ll try to clear the way. Fly away if you think that you’ll be caught, especially if it looks like I’ll be caught, we got all day to figure this out.” The shock on her face was almost ridiculous, as if he never offered a kind word to her, and he snorted blankly as she murmured, “Thank you.” Sure she thanked him, but what person wouldn’t try to protect their group of Dragons?  
Talk was over however, and Hana flapped deeply downwards and rose until Garm’s nose almost touched Hana’s back, and then her wings closed and plunged them toward the Source. Instantly Thorne felt Garm follow suit, and focused entirely on the shape of the Source in front of them. There was the strangest thing, however. Hana's head kept tilting to the side as if lost, to search her surroundings, the only reason her head stayed facing forward was Thorne's sheer willpower keeping her locked in her motions. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Thorne noted that Garm was operating in a similar fashion. It was like they couldn’t see the task in front of them, and Thorne kicked furiously at her sides as Hana almost broke away from their path. What was she thinking!? Nonetheless, a whoosh of hot air behind them signaled Garm’s resolve to follow through with the strike, even if he didn’t exactly seem sure what they were attacking, his fur sparkled with flame and smoke trailed from his jaws. Sensing the heat, Hana’s own Dragonflame started to drift cold air onto Thorne, her fangs freezing over with clear ice.  
And the Source cracked back open…and out came the many tentacles, flailing momentarily before targeting the zipping form of Hana. “If it catches you, you’re unclean!” Thorne only took a second to process the information, and threw his weight to the right, the sudden tilt had Hana screech but obey, tucking in her wings as the Source's arms barely missed them. Hana’s eyes briefly caught sight of the actions Garm took to avoid the attack, and strong beat of his wings and he took an almost leap right over the many tendrils. Some decided to chase the less agile Dragon, hounding him right behind his tail, but Thorne pressed himself tighter to his Dragon’s back as most whirled toward him instead. He knew he didn’t know what these Sources really were, nor did he have the experience of a Longtail, but he did know one thing for certain. Hana was very, very fast. And she sensed his intent, and briefly rose in the air before plunging downwards, and the tendrils followed doggedly. There was no way a creature meant to see with only two eyes could keep an eye on all side, either it'd be caught up in the belly or would be grabbed by the Tail, which is why Thorne's position as a Tail was so important for Hana. His quick eyes noted a flailed tendril come from below and hurriedly pushed Hana to the side, yelping as the tip of her wing was clipped and sent them tumbling momentarily. But they weren’t caught, Hana chased her own tail momentarily to make a split second turn, facing the tendrils as they closed in.  
Thorne would think that Hana would know what to do, considering her Dragonflame was ready to fire, but something strange was occurring in her mind. Hana’s true eyes flicked to and from the Source and her surrounding, and a baffled squeak escaped her throat, as if she wasn’t seeing the clear danger bearing down on them. Having no choice left, Thorne kicked her in the flank, hard, “Just spit Hana! Stop being stupid!” Her squeak cut off midway through the sound and was replaced by a grotesque spitting hiss, not a second too late, given their circumstances. The liquid was clear, completely and utterly so, Thorne would think it was water had it not come from the maw of a Dragon. It looked harmless as well, and the tendrils plowed through them with enviable determination, only to find her Dragonflame was lots more dangerous than obvious fire. The spit froze instantly when it splattered on their target, creating beautiful walls of ice connecting the tendrils to each other, trembling fitfully as they attempted to break free, some even shattering in the ill-fated struggle. Thorne’s face split into a terrible smirk at his success, and it took him a second to shake it off and press his heels to Hana once more to goad her into flying to the right. Her sharp eyes caught the shapes lingering on the outside. Wisk and Mark, expressions unreadable to the boy used to Hana’s face, but he still bared his teeth in a wide grin, he was impressive, wasn’t he? There was Leo too, well, mostly Og. He wasn’t frowning, that had to be a good thing, right?  
The Source was right there, unchanged and uncaring to the fact that it was losing the fight. The only change Thorne could identify in the strange structure was that it was pulsing at a far more rapid rate once he and Hana managed to freeze its grasping tendrils, good, so it was scared! Hana’s jaws spilled over with Dragonflame once more, at any time, she was ready to complete the job, even if Thorne was sensing a terrible amount of confusion swirling in her head. Where was Garm? He needed to help too! His answer came in the form of a burst of heat nearby, enough to offset the cold that had started to surround Hana. There he was, fighting. His fur was alight with many fiery eyes, each one unclean under his fur, but letting off a haze of heat. May screamed out a brief screeching and pulled on Garm’s fur until it looked painful. The same expression of Hana plagued Garm’s own eyes, his ears flattened as his head swiveled around and May screamed. Just when Thorne thought he'd need to dive in and rescue the other Dragon, Garm’s mouth poured out fire, catching the whole group of tendrils in the blaze. They didn’t burn very well, most fell back and writhed pathetically before struggling back in the air, not much worse for wear, but Garm had already blown past them by that point.  
“Blast this thing!” Thorne howled as Garm approached, and guided Hana’s head to face the Source. She warbled and cried out, but ice was forming on the ground under her, pooling Dragonflame showing she was ready to spit. “Spit Hana!” His order pierced through her ears, and Hana whipped her head back and forward, the minuscule movement belied its effectiveness. The Source just have sensed some sort of danger, for as soon as Hana’s spit hit it square in the middle of its body, it started to close back up in its shell, only to discover one thing. Ice was very hard. The icy covering over its shell freaked under the force, but refused to budge except for tiny cracks that started to mar its frame. It wasn’t a problem for Thorne, Garm was already there to finish his job, flame licking the air as his body crashed down onto the Source. He paused, tilting his head back and whimpering at May as he attempted to swallow back his fire, but something resigned seemed to fall into his eyes as an hidden exchange took place, and he returned to his task.  
Garm’s front paws wrenched the shell back, his immense strength serving well to make his prey completely defenseless. Now the Source was letting out a small chattering noise, a pitiful noise that only increased in volume as it got pulled further and further back by a single Dragon's paws. Then, as one drop of flame touched the center, it screamed. It was a scream unlike what Thorne had ever heard, more inhuman than the terrible roar that Og had cowed them with. It seemed to cut through the air and slice into his ears, and it took all he could to not leap away from Hana to cower from the noise. They were hurting it, it was crying at them, they had to stop! The boy shook his head frantically, he had to separate his thoughts from Hana’s, she was too kind, of course she didn’t want to hurt something that had done nothing to them first. But these were Leo’s orders, he'd either fail entirely or win utterly, that was the only way he could take on Leo’s request. At the very least, May didn’t falter in her duties. Garm only blinked for a second before he snarled and fire roared out of his throat. The flame had a liquid quality to it, flowing around the cracks in the shells and settling to burn wherever it could stop. All in all, the Source was now justified in screaming as the fire ate at it and seared into the ground under it. Hana let out a long screech, driving Thorne to grasp her tightly and whisper harshly in her ears, “Stay still Hana, we can’t win if you keep freaking out like this! Spit, again!” Another scream from her, and another gout of the freezing liquid collided with the Source’s now exposed roots. Suddenly, the pulsing abruptly stopped, and a sickly smoke started to rise from the Source. The tendrils collapsed alongside each other, every single one inactive as the Source stopped moving. Thorne leaned Hana forward, ignoring the deep confusion and sadness that twisted into his own thoughts, “Is it done?” He asked, Hana’s eyes were sharp, but except for the smoke, he couldn’t see if the thing was dead or not. Garm tilted his head and nosed the still contraption. “No.” Leo’s voice tinged with bright satisfaction, “But it’s nearly done for, Wisk, Mark. Get on it.”  
Thorne set Hana’s eyes on the sight before him, ready to spit again if the Source started to break free, but it stayed rather passive as the two Dragons landed next to it. Mark thrashed his tail irritatingly, and puffed out a burst of breath before Patches managed to get him under control, whereupon he flexed his muscles. They were bigger than Garm’s, Thorne didn't believe any of the Dragons could pull the Source out if Mark couldn’t manage the feat, except maybe Og, but he understandably didn’t want to touch it. It'd have to be them this time around. “Let us start, Wisk? Wisk. Let’s start, is that ok?” The Dragon didn’t react initially, though Thorne would be hard-pressed to say that he could even see when the Dragon was reacting, but eventually twitched and started crawling forwards. Again, the confusion seemed to deep into the air, all except for Og, who’s mouth was turned up in a manner that seemed to be the only time he smiled. Leo was smiling too, and tapped his fingers on Og’s back until the noise permeated the air, “Hurry, hurry! It might get up!” He almost babbled in his excitement, and Og bounced his head eagerly, anticipating the success with mouth parted slightly.  
Thus spurred on, Patches' guided Mark until his flat paws grasped around the Source. “Let’s do this buddy.” He murmured seriously, and pulled on Mark’s fur, softer this time around. At the same time, Mark mirrored his pull, eerily silent at the monumental task. Hana was quiet too, nobody made a sound, but they kept watch with a creepy gaze. Thorne found that he couldn’t look away from the scene once it started as well, clinging to Hana as if something terrible might happen. The silence was broken the moment Patches ordered Mark to start pulling, an order he obeyed without much fanfare, and then started to scream. Hana started keening as well, throwing her head down and cleaning her mouth wide, her Dragonflame freezing over the ground under her until it gleamed and nearly reached her chin. This time, Thorne couldn’t stand the assault on his ears and tore away from Hana with a surprised scream. His senses duller than hers, he almost didn’t need to cover his ears, until Garm howled louder than he ever heard before, Wisk hissed an ear-grating pitch, and Mark roared terribly. Yet the Dragon kept on his task, despite the distress clear in his voice. Thorne couldn’t bare it anymore, and threw his arms around himself and smothered the sound. His eyes peaked over his own covering, too curious to completely look away, but rather horrified at the Dragon's consistency in obeying his human's orders, beyond his own comfort. His eyes were burning, simply touching Hana was overwhelming his own emotions with an emotion he hadn’t gotten the pleasure to experience yet. Hana was grieving. “I don’t know what you’re feeling!” Leo bellowed over the screeching of the Dragons, “But do not stop, this is just a trick, a trick pulled on your Dragons!”  
The ground stared to crumble underneath the Source, and the pulsing started back up at twice the intensity. Its roots sprung to life as well, stiffening out and wrapping around or clinging to any protrusion or ground they managed to reach. Quite suddenly, Mark’s strength started to be shut down, and the rising Source stopped rising abruptly. With another deep breath, Mark screamed out his effort and scrambled at the ground with his back legs, to no avail. “Wisk, attack!” Thorne heard Winter voice, and something blurred toward the clinging roots. Wisk’s claws looked like sharp bone, like the knives the Longtails used to prepare any food that was caught, though Thorne had to say that Wisk was a far more efficient knife than the Longtail's implements. One root seemed to fall apart as Wisk passed it, shredded all the way through by impossibly sharp claws. Long strands of lightning bit at the air, now released and eager to get into something, anything. Another root torn apart, and the darkened surroundings of the crevice started to light up with fantastic lights and colors. Thorne saw the colored light as victory, as long as it was falling apart like this, they were winning. And indeed, the Source was losing. Another screech, mechanical and shrill, as Mark started gaining some ground once more, and Wisk skidded to a halt next to the Source and raised a deadly claw. The last connection to the ground that the Source had, a root that looked far too thick to be properly severed, took several instances of Wisk slamming their claws into the mass, finally fell apart with a dazzling array of light and crackling noise.  
It didn’t even feel real once the Source finally got torn out of the ground. By what Leo said, that should have been the end of it. Once it was torn out of the ground, Thorne assumed it would be like a tree, dying unless it was swiftly reintroduced to livable conditions, but he couldn’t tell whether the Source was actually operating in the same way. Instead of fading instantly, the Source's light flickered weakly, it beat like an actual heartbeat, Thorne found himself thinking. Everybody except Patches disconnected from their Dragons, and even without Hana’s eyes Thorne could see that their eyes were res and sweat poured down their faces. Hurriedly, Thorne felt his own face. His hands came away sticky, and when they touched his eyes, wet. Was this all of Hana’s feelings? Leo had said that the Source was tricking their Dragons, so did that mean that it had made her so sad just because it wanted to live!? Thorne’s teeth grinded together in his resulting grimace, “Hurry up and smash that damned thing, Patches! I don’t even want to look at it anymore!” He almost felt wrong for cursing so, but it felt good, the word perfectly displayed his disgust for this stupid Souce! The other boy gasped briefly, it seemed he was lost in his own Dragon's emotions for some brief seconds, “Uh, got it Thorne!” Mark sniffed at his words and let out the saddest crooning Thorne had heard, somehow the sound was even sadder coming from the comparatively less intelligent Dragon, how dare this abomination make Mark so upset for no reason!? In the middle of the sad sound, Mark reared up as high as he could go, positioning his front paws over the front and side of the Source. The Source flickered at an even weaker light, so fast that Thorne almost couldn’t see when the light flashed, and then Mark fell forward.  
The Source cracked naturally, like an egg, the only natural thing it had done since this whole conflict began. As a result, Thorne couldn’t have been happier when Hana's kerning simply cut off with a whiner and she collapsed forward, throwing him from her back with the movement. Wanting to comfort her, Thorne threw himself on her snout and stroked it gently, “Its ok Hana, it’s going to be ok, that nasty thing messed with your mind huh? Don’t worry, we're going to kill all of them, aren’t we?” Oddly, she didn’t seem at all calmer as he continued to speak brave nothings, and all around him he could see the others dealing with similarly saddened Dragons. Not a Dragon’s length from him, the Source had gone dark and didn’t make a sound anymore, the pieces of it lying in dangerous shards around its core, which gleamed like a jewel. “Its sad, isn’t it?” Leo was suddenly on the ground, patting Thorne's back sympathetically, “This monster just hurts Dragons so that they won’t help us survive, that’s terrible, right?” Like the young Tail he was, Thorne agreed readily, nodding his head furiously, “Yea. Yea! That thing…it was a bully! A meanie!” Patches finally composed himself just in time to contribute with a, “Mark’s acting like somebody just died. Not sure what you want, but I want to tear up another one!” The fury travelled quickly among the humans, all intent on revenge for their grief-stricken Dragons, to make sure that their trusted friends couldn’t fall victim to another mind altering Source. And Leo was in the middle of it all, Og looming over his head and shaking the air with a growl and filling the air with smoke once more when Leo spoke next, “You know, If love to go out and get another one, but I fear that we still got a job to do. Aw, don’t be mad Og, we're doing out best. And so, we're going to get food and do this again tomorrow. What do you say, Guardians of Dragons?” The newly christened Guardians paused only momentarily, and then they smiled…  
\--  
“You know what, I think I like him.” Patches remarked from across the den, “And I think I like our new job.” The words were met with a hum of approval from the other corners of the den, and Thorne replied in an equally loud and proud voice, “See? I told you, I told all of you! Leo’s a great guy, he’s a great Longtail!” Thorne was currently occupied with convincing Hana to eat, waving an odd creature that Leo had called a Smoke-bat. It certainly smelled like smoke, almost as suffocating as Og's smoke, but Leo had said that it was a good food for growing Dragons. “Garm, Wisk, and even Mark took a little bite, why can’t you? Love Tic-tics too much?” He hissed, giving the Smoke-bat a harsh shake. His question went unanswered, was it because she was bat-like? Or maybe she didn’t have an appetite after screaming her lungs out. Wait. “Is your throat hurting? Skies, sorry! Is that it!?” This finally got a response from the down-trodden Dragon. Her eyes turned up to his, and she chattered lowly, but the sound was clear and didn’t drag on, she was fine. Thorne blew a breath to part his hair, “Then what is it Hana? We have to eat, just a little, or you're not gonna fly. Then we can’t fly with the others, we don’t want that, right?” Bleakly, Hana whimpered but finally raised her head. Thorne didn’t move, holding his breath as she slowly cracked open her mouth and crunched down on the wing, smoke spilling out of the crackly skin, and that was it. She didn’t even eat the whole wing, and Thorne exploded into a despairing groan.  
“Having difficulties?” There was Winter, hovering on the outside while a conversation about the strength capabilities of Mark and Garm slowly melded into an argument between the two owners, and he supposed Winter had just barely escaped being volunteered to take a side. Winter hastily sidestepped an icy spike that hadn’t completely melted, dainty steps keeping her from slipping, “Hana’s Dragonflame is rather pretty, I can imagine this must be a problem however.” Thorne grimaced uncaringly, and she continued at the manner at hand, “Wisk had similar problems regarding eating as well, though not as significant, what is the problem?” Thorne tossed the half-eaten creature next to Hana’s nose, where it lay unappreciated and uneaten, and cupped his face in his arms. “She only ate Tic-tics before, I guess this is kinda a switch, but she’s getting bigger! She can’t keep eating hatchling food!” He capped off his words with a rude glare at Hana, who grumbled but pointingly pushed the Smoke-bat even further away from her snout. “It seems she is utterly determined not to eat. Wisk was the same. Do you believe she is distressed?” Thorne snorted, “Of course she’s “distressed”, she’s my Dragon, I can feel it, but that doesn’t change the point. If she doesn’t eat, we're both going to be miserable later.” She whimpered sadly, and Thorne sighed as he patted her sympathetically. Winter stared a moment longer, then stepped forward, “May I?” Thorne frowned, and waved his hand in a disinterested fashion, “Go ahead, I’m gonna sit here until she eats either way.”  
Hana’s eyes widened at the approaching girl, and she whistled in a friendly manner, intent not to frighten the other human as she approached stiffly. Winter snatched up the bat, which was releasing odd strings of smoke into the air, and raised it to her face. Both Dragon and human yelped at a sudden crunch as the girl proceeded to bite into the Smoke-bat, coughing up a storm as the black smoke curled around her cheeks. “Winter! It’s not clean!” Thorne yelled, launching forward to try and keep his weird acquaintance from killing herself, but somebody else also moved fast. Winter recoiled back as the poisonous meal was snatched by Hana, who growled disapprovingly and shook her head to dissuade another attempt to partake in a deadly meal. Thorne himself grabbed her shoulder and almost slammed her back, “Get it out! You’ll die Winter!” Abruptly, she stood straight up and coughed out more words, “Y-yes. I will die, if I eat this meal, and I will keep trying unless you eat it, Hana.” Thorne whirled around to Hana, “She'll do it Hana! Don’t let her ge-“ The Smoke-bat was already gone, smoke curling around her mouth and forcing a cough, roughly shaking her but thankfully not forcing up her non-consensual meal. Thorne looked over at Winter, “Geez! That was a dumb plan, what if you swallowed that!? We can’t repair you like our Dragons!” Winter sniffed, as if his concern was proof of some loss of intelligence, “It worked, did it not? Wisk also ate, so I can assume my methods are working. You’re Dragon ate, so what more could you ask for?” Thorne flushed with anger and stomped childishly, “’Cause I don’t want you to die dummy! You’re weird, how could you not know that much!?” Winter tilted her head like a baffled animal, waiting for an infuriatingly long time before finally speaking, “May I say you are also very strange. Enough talk, I will leave before this conversation diminishes into a similar one of Patches and May.” Right on cue, a shout exploded from the outside of Thorne's corner of the den, “Nuh-uh! Garm is way stronger than Mark! He even breath Dragonflame before him!” Then the even louder retort, “Oh yeah!? Well, who pulled the Source out!? Not Garm!” Thorne set his mouth in a thin line, stifling any amusement to try and stay angry at this weird girl, “Alright, fine! I gotta eat too.”  
Thorne threw his arms into a cross gesture and watched until Winter had left, growling toward Hana the moment she was gone, “Man, Hana. Did Leo have to get us these weird friends?” With the loud argument going on, Thorne was certain nobody had heard his words, and settled down to eat his own food. Roc meat again, this time more scorched than he had it last time. He narrowed his eyes at the taste, it tasted exactly the same! Then why did it smell so smoky? “Were the smoke-breathers around the good again? Even I know they make food smell funny!” He spat, the useless Dragons must have tried to “assist” their humans again! All they did was spit snake, the most useless Dragonflame. Flying fast dissipated the smoke, and any Roc or Drake could swing around until they hit something, he even heard that smoke-breathers couldn’t see through their own smoke! Thank goodness it was a rare type of Dragonflame, even if it was a grand failure, “Lucky you breath ice, huh, Hana?” She wasn’t even looking at him, laying down with her back to him and occasionally coughing softly. Wow, guess tricking her really got her angry, “It won’t happen again.” He mumbled under his breath, he really had to get to sleep, but Patches and May didn’t seem to have any sign of stopping their huge argument. Right as he had a mind to run out and quiet them down himself, unknown footsteps sounded outside their den, “Shut up newbies! Some of us are trying to sleep!” He should have been happy, as Patches and May were now quiet, but he wasn’t. He told them when to shut up! Not some stranger! “Oh, right back at you!” He snapped, his voice echoing, “Can’t you deal with it? They’re just talking! Grow up!” And then he winced, well, guess their popularity couldn’t drop any further. Oh, it was alright, every Tail here would be thanking and bowing to them later, if they knew that their Guardians were protecting them from the Sources! You know, hopefully, and if Leo ever let them speak of it.  
“Hana, let’s go to bed, alright?” He whispered far lower than his previous scream, it still sounded agonizingly loud in the silent dens. He knew Hana heard, but she didn’t move, still sulking in her own personal realm. Not having any way to perk her back up, Thorne petted her on the back and spoke a low, “Good night.” Before retiring to bed. He smacked his mouth in discomfort as he attempted to sleep, skies above it was starting to taste awful! Was the smell now transferring to his taste? But it was starting to fade…no, not fade, it was just starting to taste normal. That was alright, he could live with that sort of taste. Immediately, Thorne started to feel his consciousness fading like the smoke in his mouth, and he dreamed of wispy clouds and a dark sky.  
Silently, Hana gritted her teeth until they freaked and coughed. Smoke was in her eyes, in her stomach and soon her heart, Og was there, always there, frowning. Another cough, and the smoke in her swirled slightly, just this night. She just had to stay awake this night, and Thorne wouldn’t feed her this abomination again. Three others coughed all around her, and she reached out sympathetically with a chirp too pitched to be heard by the humans. She was glad she wouldn’t have to survive this sleepless night by herself, and sighed into the ground at their responses. Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. Everyone was here, they just had to get through this, the Miracle would happen soon.  
\--  
Thorne wasn’t sure how he knew, but now was the time to wake up, right now. The smoke was gone from his mouth, but he still instinctively bared his teeth at the memory. Hana was still on the ground, and he whimpered sadly when her eyes looked up at him. They were cloudy, she must have not slept well. “You didn’t even climb the ceiling. Were you hot? We gotta go, Leo's waiting for us.” Again, he wasn’t sure how he knew this, but he knew, that’s all that mattered. Hana didn't react momentarily, before suddenly jerking upwards, scrambling to her feet with her mouth open. His head hurt. Without thinking, Thorne covered his ears and tapped her with his foot, “Hehe, are you excited? The others are already up.” He knew, and twitched at a footstep outside his den. “Are ya coming!?” Patches barked, his voice steady, nice to know he was starting to learn what tones were appropriate for the situations that they got into. “Yes, yes, I’m coming!” Thorne drawled and capped off his statement with a show of fangs…wait, no, a showing of teeth. Yes, that was right.  
Once again, the dens were already quiet, and Thorne found himself listening for any sound. He didn’t want to be caught out here…because that would be stupid, yes, he didn’t want to look stupid, now did he? A detail started to become clear to him as he walked, out of the corner of his eyes. The other Dragon's eyes were cloudy too! He tilted his head, and sidled up next to Winter. She looked at him, but didn’t chase him away, she wasn’t angry, thank goodness. “Wisk didn’t sleep right?” She looked over to the slightly sluggish Dragon, and sighed, “How did you figure?” She grumbled, “I woke several times, he could pretend, but I know. He was not sleeping once throughout the night. I pray that it will not hinder our destruction of Sources.” Oh, that was a problem, Thorne shivered and whispered out of the side of his mouth, “Can Garm breath Dragonflame May? He’s not too tired, is he?” Her voice wasn't outwardly frightened, letting loose an infuriatingly short, “Yes” that Thorne decided to ignore, otherwise he’d get angry over nothing. He assumed Patches would answer the same way, and skipped over him, they were near Leo anyhow, Leo could tell them whether or not the Dragons could fly the way that they were. The dens gave way to an empty surface, where the winds howled and the usual chill bit at their skins. The sun hadn’t breached the shell of the dens, and Thorne blinked in the awful lighting, grasping onto Hana’s wings as he began their usual trek.  
Predictably, Leo was already lurking within the Center. Rather unpredictably, two more people were there too. Women, with big Dragons as well. Paying no heed to their confusion, Leo pranced forward, “Oh, this is great! Fantastic even, I didn’t even have to send somebody to wake you guys up!” That wasn’t too big of a compliment, but Thorne felt his chest swell with pride anyhow, and puffed his satisfaction. Thankfully, somebody else had a mind to keep asking the important questions, “U-Um. Leo?” May whispered, getting a tilted head from Leo, “Who are these people?” The question seemed innocent enough, all things considered, but Leo didn’t seem to quite know what she was talking about until he looked to the side and gasped slightly, “Oh, oh! Sorry, I thought you would have known…you know what, it’s alright. Notch, Stripe! This is the little Guardian guys I told you about, killed a Source and everything!” Thorne tried to stand straight, but shook as two brown eyes laid upon him. Naturally, he was the leader of flying. Again, he shook his head. Leader? That truly came out of nowhere, he was no leader. He just…lead the flying Dragons? Hana nudged him forward before he could get sucked into his own dumb thoughts. Instantly, he was petrified once more. These were Longtails! And they looked respectable! Their Dragons weren’t half-bad either. A crowned beast with blue skin pulled over giant bones, wings covering its large frame. The Dragon nearby was even larger, forked tongue flicking out of the stiff mouth as it pawed at its face with its many limbs. “Hi. I…I’m Thorne. U-Um, you knew that already, right…what…what are your Dragons called?”  
He was glad to see he wasn’t the only one who flinched backwards when Stripe steeped forward and patterned the blue Dragon on the flank. Her name fit, hair turning grey down the middle, pale skin across her body as if she had never played in the sun. “This is Sky. Good name, I’m sure you’re charmed. It’s the best Dragon you will ever meet.” Thorne couldn't help but let his lips twitch back at the introduction, sure “charmed”. When he flew alongside her a little, then maybe he'd be charmed. He didn’t have high hopes with pride like that. He especially didn’t like the name, Sky, was she serious? How could she use the skies name in such a blasphemous way? Never mind, never mind, she had to be a good fighter. How about the other one? Notch was a little bit more dignified, hair so short that it almost looked like the same scaly crown of her Dragon, who blinked his cloudy eyed gaze down upon them, “Greetings Thorne, this is King…it felt appropriate.” Indeed, the quiet Dragon wasn’t like the consistently angered Og. Instead, he held a silent dignity and a fairness that belied his own horrible fear factor. Sky and King leaned forward, their heads bigger than half on Hana, but nowhere near the size of Og, who existed in the background as a terribly huge wall.  
Hana reacted in her usual way, raising her nose and meeting their poked nose with her own. Their clouded eyes brightened up upon their new friend, and Hana released another high-pitched chirp toward them. She knew the fellow Dragons recognized the sound, any sound above human hearing should have put them on edge, if not necessitated a response. Indeed, the little Dragons behind her chirp, chirp, chirped at her own response. But not Sky and King. They blinked suddenly, and then their eyes clouded back over and they retreated to their owners. Hana couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t fall asleep like them. If only for herself, she had to keep this smoke-breather at bay. Og was just snorting, not a wisp of smoke coming out of his nostrils, as if he knew. Not good. No good.  
Thorne could feel that Hana wasn’t going to do anything anymore, her greetings to Sky and King were the only movement she had made. The other Dragon’s couldn’t even muster enough energy to do even that, lingering behind their humans and giving off painfully obvious yawns. “Speaking of appropriateness, can our Dragons even fly today? They look tired, maybe they’re hurt or…or tired from taking out the Source. They seemed really sad yesterday.” Stripe snorted, and Thorne gave off an underhanded sneer towards her that thankfully made her eyes widen before she hissed under her breath and broke eye contact with him. “Sad? So was King, the first time we attacked a Source, but he got over it the next day, maybe because they’re young?” Thorne couldn't help but compare the Dragons sizes to their senior's sizes, being half their sizes could possibly relate to how well they took some kind of mental attack, but how? Abruptly, he started to shake off this issue. It could happen! Hana had a smaller head and she was a really nice creature, there was nothing saying that she wasn’t being affected because she was young! Another cough shook his body, and he stifled it before the others could see, stupid smoke.  
“Well, it doesn’t change much.” Leo approached Hana and grasped her head in his hands, smirking into her eyes, “She still looks sharp, eat a little, and she'll be ready to fly. The others too.” Og rumbled, noticeably far quieter, but it still shook the air and forced Leo to look up, “C'mon, they do need to eat you know.” An impatient shake of the head, and Leo’s eyes widened as the giant Dragon suddenly drew forward and quite suddenly had his huge head right up in front of the tiny human, “I-I-geez Og!” Thorne took one look at the frazzled Leo and vicious Og, squeaked, and threw himself behind Hana, who once again had faced the threat of such a creature by raising her head and growling softly. Og’s mouth parted slightly, and heat started to flow from within, prompting Leo to step back before throwing his hands up in bemusement, “F-fine. Fine! You win! Thorne, get yourself and the Guardians to eat something on the wing, we're apparently not resting.” His face was flushed red, a color Thorne hadn’t see on him yet, and one that didn't look good on him. He hated how Og did that just to scare them, just to scare Leo! Wait, why couldn’t Leo just order Og away from him? Dragons were supposed to listen, even Garm didn’t blankly disobey or threaten May! His realization stuck this time around, and he regarded Og with a newfound fear, not only because he was huge or likely spit fire, no. Thorne was more afraid of the fact that he could do something, and Leo apparently had no control. It seemed Og sensed these thoughts, and hurriedly raised his head before blowing a breath off the sides of the dens. Wisps of black crept up his mouth, like Garm had when he breathed his fiery breath, would Og really have breathed Dragonflame on them? The thought made him shudder.  
Sudden activity behind him alerted Thorne to the fact that Leo had just informed them that, like it or not, they were going. Even with his reaction time, he still noted on how everybody made it to the Center's food before he did. Hana rumbled sadly as he pointingly skipped over the Tic-tics, dropping her tail and wings in the most pitiful way possible. Even her many eyes dimmed, Thorne could swear that they looked as if at any moment they would cry. Even he could last only a few seconds against such an assault and stealthily backed up towards the basket of Tic-tics, who started squealing in an irritating fashion before he snatched at two blindly and squeezed tightly before they could let out a scream. Even as small as he was, Thorne could feel the small creature compress under his grip, breath forced out under a tyrannical crush. When her felt something like twigs crunch under his fingers, he knew he was done. He raised the two dead or unconscious Tic-tics and started stuffing them down Hana’s pack, and something odd struck him. The Tic-tics smelled really good. He tilted his head, nose flaring as he blinked down at this phenomenon. It smelled edible, despite the fact that he could also smell the oil pooling under its skin and see where flesh started to meld with metal. A bite couldn’t hurt, and Thorne twitched in an reptilian manner as he almost unconsciously jerked forward to snatch a bite, stopping only by the skin of his teeth. Hurriedly, he broke his gaze away before it could tempt him again with death, and put in in Hana’s pack. He could feel her curious eyes on him, and how she hovered agonizingly close by while he stumbled away to stuff various meats and Season Fruits into her side packs. He was fine, she didn’t need to cover his back just in case he tried to eat another unclean meal. He wasn’t stupid! It was just a moment of weakness!  
Thankfully, there was Og’s sheer impatience to worry about, and Thorne didn’t have to explain to Hana what had happened back there when a warning rumble reverberated within his chest and an instinctive fear struck their hearts. Og was going to roar again! Thorne leapt for Hana and clung on and scrambled at the packs as she waddled toward the walls of the dens. He managed to get both hands on Hana’s back, and the familiar leaving his own body filled his head, and once again he was watching the proceedings world through draconic eyes. Hana’s legs worked frantically to launch them forwards, only avoiding a face full of rock by the fact that Thorne directed her wings to flap. Her legs still wheeling, Hana gritted her teeth and took into the air. Instinctively, they turned a circle the moment they had sufficient height, surveying the skies. Garm shimmered under them, giving off a soft heat in the chilly morning. There was Wisk, chewing on a chunk of Roc meat in between his claws. There was Mark, chewing contently on some unknown plant as he rose lazily. Thorne snorted and chattered his teeth. All ready and accounted for, they could go hunting. Well, them and two extras. Thorne's expression didn’t change, watching Sky and King out of the corners of Hana’s eyes, but he was sure that he was radiating a sort of disgust at their actions. Not that he really minded that he was doing so. King dove at sky, only retreating as he got careful lashes of a claw towards his face. Sky himself was releasing odd strings of growls that conveyed anything but aggression, and Thorne's own heart started to pound in his throat. They were playing, on an important mission no less! His own anger triggered Hana’s Dragonflame, and she spat the freezing liquid as his own fire rose from his throat, “Take this seriously, skies damn you!” He snarled, a sentiment that May must have been feeling too, for Garm bellowed after his words. And Wisk, and Mark. Huh, he guessed his irritation must not have been extraordinary given how awfully these Longtails were acting. They halted quickly in their play, pretending that they had just paused for a second before flying upwards, pointingly higher than Thorne. He felt something push at his head when they did that, it made him feel weaker, but he didn’t get a chance to challenge them before a crunch and creaking of muscle announced Og's presence.  
Then Leo was flying again. Og careened through the air once more, against the pull of gravity and cracking open his wings. This time around, he didn’t wait for them, and pumped his wings into an amazingly fast pace, still barely above the trees. In the few seconds it took for Hana to figure out they were supposed to follow, Og was already impossibly far. Smoke trailed behind him like a furnace, and Thorne held his breath as they drifted through. It made him feel like he was drifting and chocking on the terrible smell, and he shook his head as it nearly resulted in a blackout. Wow, Og must have been really angry with their slow pace if he looked like he was going to breath fire over this! And leaving them behind, wait, he was leaving them behind! The little Dragons, King, and Sky flapped embarrassingly fast to catch up to the giant, the winds they whipped up pulling at their human's hair , and still no where closer to Og's position. “Leo! Leo! Make him slow down, we can’t catch up!” Yet he didn’t listen, Thorne saw the human's head turn, and he mouthed something unheard, but didn’t stop Og. Within a minute, Og was already over the pointy peaks again, and Thorne started to panic. “We’re gonna lose him, hurry up Hana!” But even he knew this was her limit, and cried out in outrage, “How do we follow him, I can’t even hear him!” He spat, only for an quiet voice to interrupt him, “I can smell him.” May mumbled, driving Garm forward to glide next to the slowing down Hana, “I’m…I'm smelling a lot of things, but I think I got him. He’s huge, and smells like ashes. I think I got him.” Thorne blinked, and quickly felt along until he managed to land on Hana’s nose, and sniffed. He could barely sense the smoky scent, much less follow it. His expression must have given away his doubt, for May huffed and grumbled, “You don’t have to smell it Thorne! Garm’s nose is big, trust me!” Thorne still frowned, but some unspoken agreement passed between the two Dragons, one the leader of the flight and one a following Dragon, and Garm took the lead.  
Then, May was off. It appeared she knew where she was going, for Garm dove out of the air to follow at the very tops of the trees. “Are you sure we can trust her?” Stripe snorted, and Sky noticeably didn’t descend after them. Again, Thorne hated how they thought they could linger above him without any consequences and snapped his head to the side, “She’s great, and you can know it or get eaten by a Roc out here! I’m fine with either!” Patches snickered at his reply, and Thorne had to fight a smile rising on his face. If Patches was laughing, then it must have been funny, that made him happier than it should have but oh, he was terrible, talking back to the Longtails the way he just did, but it felt really good! That could be forgiven, right? He was glad that Leo hadn’t witnessed his insubordination, though he wasn’t sure whether the man would support or punish him for such an action. Nonetheless, they obeyed him with rolled eyes and clear impatience, but stayed behind and at an equal flight path to his. Good, so they were understanding that Hana was the highest they could fly, she was amazing after all.  
Thorne had never seen Garm in quite the same way before. The sniffing Dragon adopted an odd fashion of flapping his wings up and to his nose every few seconds, tongue lolling out of the giant mouth as the scent was successfully thrown up to his snout. His eyes gleamed, cleared of the smoky tiredness that had plagued his morning waking. May was back into the persona that she had undertaken the first time they had flown, from what Thorne could see, she babbled every second that she flew, and he occasionally caught snippets of her self conversation such as, “Oh skies! He smells terrible, doesn’t he?” or giggled sing song of, “Flying like a leaf!” Honestly, she did not sound like she had any idea where they were going, and Thorne settled into a frown as they pointlessly flew on. “You keep your face like that, it’s gonna stick like that, ya know?” He had seen Patches starting to glide next to him for seemingly no reason, talking apparently was on the boy's mind. With a sigh, Thorne relented and relaxed his face, they didn’t talk that much yesterday, he supposed it was only fair to tolerate Patches for a conversation. “Its not stuck, see? I just don’t like this.” Of course, Patches followed the thread he left, “Don’t like what? Flying? Hunting? Fighting?” Thorne subtly raised his head towards the duo of King and Sky, “Them. It couldn’t have been Leo and us only? They can’t be as useful as we are.” Naturally, he conveniently forgot about the fact that they were Longtails for this to work, but Patches didn’t! “Hmm, you’re being a bit dumb, aren’t you Thorne? I bet they can breath Dragonflame, Mark can’t do that yet!” Somehow, this seemed to make Thorne angrier, and his head snapped up, closed eyes somehow looking directly at the other boy, “Yea, but you’re useful! I know you! You and Mark are cool, and strong, I bet these Longtails won’t stand a chance once you grow up!” Patches shifted on his Dragon’s back, and Thorne noted with some surprise that a tinge of red was overtaking his skin, “Uh-um…t-thanks buddy, nobody said that about him, he’s kinda slow, dumb muscle I guess.” Thorne scowled, “Well, he’s not! Hana’s nice all the time, but she fought that Roc and the Source, so did Mark, so he’s a good Dragon.” It wasn’t even a simple compliment, that was a fact. “Thanks.” Thorne snorted, “You already said th-“  
“Guys!” A shriek exploded into the air, and the two boys snapped to attention, ears perked for May’s next words, “The smell just…changed, it smells funny now!” Again, Thorne couldn’t even distinguish such a change in the scent, Og’s smoky smell vastly more prominent. If the change was visible, Hana's eyes weren’t catching it, rocky peaks gnawed at the skies, trees gently rustling where they clung for dear life. Nothing felt changed, he could only imagine how Garm was getting anything out of this. Just before he could ask her for clarifications, a blur darted out and settled next to May. Winter, who had moved ahead of him without his say-so, it made him puff up like a threatened lizard. “She’s correct, the air have changed.” Thorne pointingly caught up and settled Hana comfortably at the head of the flight, turning his head to facilitate conversation, “You smell something different? But Wisk’s nose isn’t even that big!” Wisk shook their head, likely mirroring the quiet Winter, “Not smell. I say what I mean, the air have changed, my…Wisk’s skin cam feel it…and it is still changing!” She tilted her head and directed Wisk to stop flapping, face twitching against some unseen force, “It is charged, something keeps moving. Something big.” Thorne's face lit up, so Og was slowing down for them now!? How nice! “Wait here, I’ll take a look.” Thorne informed his group before Hana sensed his intent and started a steady rise towards the clouds. The sun was out, bouncing off his back with a pleasant warmth, kept from being obnoxious by the constant chill that was coming from Hana’s skin. As they rose and Thorne lowered his face to keep the wind from ravaging it and the sun from kissing it, his sight settled on King and Sky. Notch and Stripe were sitting up on their Dragons, their hands still attached to their Dragon's backs. Now that he thought about it, their Dragons were far bigger than their own, and each beat of their wings was clearly cut short to disallow the distance that they would usually attain from such great wings. Also, Sky was not meant to be near the ground, Thorne's steady supply of foreign knowledge informed him. The brownish King was not as hidden as he could be, but vanished whenever he passed over a long stretch of dirt. Sky, by contrast, stood out like damaged scales. In no way was he hidden, over trees, rocks, and open stretches of ground, Thorne's eyes could see him. A Roc would have an even easier time finding him, so why wasn’t he flying in the skies, where his coloring would blend? Flying slower than them, and avoiding conditions where their camouflage wasn’t helping. Thorne didn’t want to distrust them or anything, but it sounded an awful lot like they were watching them in a prime position to strike…  
Quite suddenly, Thorne could smell smoke. Then it started hurting, right in his head. He opened his mouth to tell Hana to stop flying so fast, and coughed harshly, his mouth drying up unpleasantly and leaving him speechless. The Smoke-bat? He was flashing back to it now!? Wait, wait, he had to track Sky and King…or did he…Thorne started looking away from the duo, his eyes glazing over with smoke, and then the smoke cleared away as he reached the clouds. Abruptly, he started to shake off the distraction and tried to look back at the duo, but Hana’s screech tore his gaze hurriedly towards the front. He saw nothing at first, and then something impossibly fast darted into the skies, only just frozen within Hana’s eyes before it was gone again, taking some odd clouds with it. Garm may have just seen movement and smelled the funny smell, Wisk would feel the breeze of the air whipped up, and Patches? Patches would see nothing. But Thorne and Hana gasped at the sight. It was a Source's tentacles, long enough to reach the skies. And the “clouds” around it, that was smoke, lots of it. Thorne’s mouth was moving before he could even think, “Og's fighting a Source!” He almost roared, and Hana released a high-pitched cry before whirling around in the air to follow the suddenly mobilized flight of Dragons. Except for two.  
Thorne pushed his hands deeper into Hana’s back, “Wait. Just a sec Hana.” He whispered, and she complied, rolling an eye down in curiosity. So she noticed too. Despite the danger Leo surely was in, the Dragons King and Sky made no real attempt to speed up. Instead, they lingered determinedly to the tails of the young Tails, even more so than they had begun. While Hana lingered in the air, Notch’s head craned back and despite her the fact that her eyes were closed, Thorne was suddenly aware that she could see him…and the foul smoky smell lingered in his nostrils when they locked eyes with each other. And King and Sky decided to make use of their gigantic wings, beating them deeply for once and predictably racing ahead of the younger Dragons that they had previously been stuck behind. Thorne felt his chest start to ache in the way that he had felt so directly when the Roc had looked at him, sizing him up as prey to be devoured by a much larger being. A primal fear that goaded him into running, flying, and never coming back. These…people scared him. With their smoke eyes and clever following, they felt like bigger threats than the huge Roc, than the gargantuan Og. It was unnatural how they flapped so perfectly, knew that he was watching them right at that moment. Had they put their smoky eyes in his head? That wasn’t natural, one might even say, unclean. Thorne prayed that Hana would move faster, they had to save Leo, and then he had to tell Leo about this. They could kick Notch and Stripe, along with their freaky Dragons, off the Guardians, even if they were unclean, especially then! But that would have to wait, they were approaching the enemy now, and Thorne and Hana tightened their wings as they crested over the fangs of the earth. It did not disappoint.  
Metal writhed like living flesh, dashing against anything that happened to be in its way. The center of the Source almost resembled a rose in its unclean visage, the tips reaching high into the air as it released more of its horrible tentacles and strange light, and in the middle of it all, there was Og. He was captured in the enemy’s cruel grip, beating his wings hard enough so that the stone peaks themselves fled from his wrath. Even now he tore his arm free from another grasping serpent, and his tail crushed another mass under its massive weight…and he was losing. Every beat of his wings, every strike, was doing nothing. Og was slowly succumbing to the pull, and lost altitude until he was horrifyingly close to the Source. There was no way the Guardians would let such an insult stand. Thorne let out a grasping cry, near a roar if not for his human throat, and leaned forward Hana so that they plunged right for the Source. Ice followed Hana’s maw, and a spit sent one tentacle spiraling in icy fragments. Her claws tore at the base, led completely on by Thorne’s own mind. Once again, he felt none of her intent in the attack, but at least she was listening. A problem quickly arose, with Og so close to them, it took a single movement for him to change the environment completely. Hana twisted in midair as the draft from his wings took a hold of her and dragged her down even as she struggled to rise, her own wings making no difference at all. Don’t fly under Og. This must have been why. He couldn’t even see the others in the chaos he had subjected himself and Hana to, and a good thing too, the other Tails must have not been as stupid as he was, diving right in. “Og! Stop! We can’t save you like this-aaagh!” His plea came to no avail, and Hana plummeted like some hand had seized her and decided that she was to hit the ground.  
Hana was fast, but that didn’t matter any more. The ability to fly at high speeds meant nothing when she was practically falling. Her Dragonflame spilled around them, hanging in the air like snow. It wasn’t the time, but he was struck by a strange feeling. He never saw ice falling from the sky before, but he knew that some Longtails said that it was a type of weather that actually happened. If this impossible sight was the last thing he saw, then perhaps he'd be a little more distracted from impending doom, that'd be nice, he didn’t want to see the ground coming at him. But of course he couldn’t even have that much pleasure. Something soft but with horrible impact slammed into Hana’s flank, he heard a crack from her tough body, and threw them to the side. Thrown out of his mind, Thorne screamed as droplets of Hana’s Dragonflame trickled onto his back, the flesh going numb almost instantly and spreading pain onto the unaffected parts. This type of pain was almost unimaginable, and Thorne’s agony crashed against Hana’s more reactive mind, who was currently trying to get them out of this situation without any more pain. Not that it mattered, any movement that she made directed them into the wind, where the ice started to peel off, forcing a whimper of protest from him. Another whoosh of air, and Thorne didn’t have to look to know another tentacle was heading their way. What he was looking at was far more curious. King and Sky were above Og, steadily cleaning away the tentacles from Og with bursts of air and blue flame. He could see their unclean eyes. A tentacle wrapped around Hana’s leg, the same one she had nearly broken before, and she screeched desperately. Surely they saw her plight? Why weren’t they helping? Why wasn’t Leo telling them to act!? He was a Guardian, they had to help him!  
Impact. On Hana’s chest, and they were falling with something heavy. “Apologies! Apologies, Thorne!” Thorne's eyes twitched, “Winter!? What’s…what are you-“ He didn’t get a chance to continue, for another soft tentacle collided with them, pushing their Dragons together so that even had it not been futile they could not flap free. Wisk was showing the most emotion Thorne had ever seen from them, and Thorne shrunk back as Wisk’s mouth split open sideways, revealing a gaping tunnel of a mouth when Winter screamed at the pressure. His own back felt like something pressing into it, but he couldn’t feel it, that somehow made it worse. “H-Hana! Get us out of here!” He attempted to bark, but found himself wheezing from his empty lungs. Without putting much thought into it, he disconnected from Hana and scrambled at her head, trying to pull himself free. Abruptly, he felt a hand on his own, and a high squeak as somebody else tried to pull him free, it felt like the time he had almost fallen off the path to the Incubator. His eyes cracked open, unused to the sudden sunlight, “Leo?” A pale face looked into his, “Idiot! You’re delirious! Help me!” Winter’s voice, Thorne blinked harshly, eyes focusing on the girl. Winter had slithered out of the vice grip they were struggling in, and had grabbed his hand in a double grip, leaning back until it felt his arm would dislocate. “We are being pulled to the Source! We must get free! Your Dragonflame!” Thorne shook his head and sucked in what air he could manage, “C-Can’t…hit…you. Won’t h-h-help…anyway.” Even if he managed to freeze the grasping tendril, they were still trapped, and he didn’t envy getting pinned under ice with his numbed back.  
Winter stole a look over the tentacle's edge, gasped at the no doubt close Source, and started pulling on Thorne’s arm even more frantically. She was free, why didn’t she just go!? Her Dragon couldn’t be hurt by the Source, what was the worst that could happen to Wisk, get more unclean and creepy looking!? It’d be worse if two humans got turned unclean, she knew this! He thought she was a smart person, they even fought last night, what was she doing!? He somehow managed to convey his thoughts as he bared his teeth and shook his head at her, leaving her letting out a shrieking howl. Up above them, Og broke free, bellowing in rage while tearing the tentacles from his forelegs and tail. Up above even him, two small shapes flitted over Og’s head, Garm and Mark were looking for them, a little too late though, Thorne doubted that they could spot their figures within the mass of tentacles. They were on their own here.  
Something awakened in Wisk when Winter screamed, even through his dimming vision Thorne could see that. Eyes opened on all Wisk’s sides, a sickly green that creaked unpleasantly when they snapped I open, newly formed. A long tongue flicked out of Wisk’s mouth, lashing against the tentacles and forcing Winter to release Thorne and hide away on her Dragon's back as the odd weapon stabbed at the prison they were being crushed in. Surprisingly, something was making the strikes far more effective, burning away the skin whenever it touched. Green eyes. Clear liquid. Acid!? Thorne’s eyes widened as more of the melting Dragonflame started to weep from Wisk’s many eyes, leaking down to touch upon the tentacles. Their prison relaxed slightly, and Thorne gasped harshly, clawing at Hana’s back to stay upon her, and connected, sighing in relief. Hana’s eyes turned upwards, and Thorne caught a terrifying sight. Unlike him, Winter hadn’t been lucky enough to grasp onto her Dragon, and her shoe slipped in the clear liquid on her Dragon's sides. Again, the acid did its work and forced a yelp out of her…and then she lost her grip. It felt like some kind of joke, the humans of Dragons, who couldn’t fall off their Dragons, falling off their Dragons. The feeling didn’t last long though, and Wisk and him practically fell screaming towards her falling figure. Wisk didn't fly gracefully, forearms out in front as if to pull Winter back onto her usual place. Hana should have been able to outfly the desperate Dragon, except for one quality about their flights. Hana was flying, Wisk was diving. The insectoid Dragon splayed open their wings moments before colliding with Winter, grasping her tightly against their chest. Hana’s talons flew open, and she grabbed Wisk by the sides, and opened her wings wide, attempting to glide them out of the vicinity of the Source's open maw. The Source had suddenly quit attacking them, instead awaiting them patiently.  
If Winter had made it to her Dragon’s back to control his Dragonflame, maybe Hana could have gotten them back into the skies, but that wasn’t the case here. Hana screeched as smoke started to pour from where her feet made contact with Wisk’s new eyes, and Thorne groaned as his own heels burned in the most unbearable way. They didn’t stop trying to save Wisk and Winter, but that didn’t matter when it was acid they were trying pull up. Even had he not been slippery, the liquid ate away at Hana’s claws, and no amount of grip could have stopped her eventual release. Thorne couldn’t let that happen, and his feet felt like buzzing dust as he ripped away from Hana’s back and reached for Winter. Wisk read his intent, and flapped one last time before trying to hand Winter to him. His hand reached for her, and slammed into the shell of the Source. Eaten. The Source had eaten her.  
Hana scrambled on the edge, wing tips hooking against the rough surface. And Thorne howled, holding his hand, which refused to even twitch on command. Broken, he had broken! He couldn’t bare to look at the injury, already his hand felt like a mass of pain, he couldn’t even distinguish where his fingers were. His mind filled with the smokiness, his eyes stopping to work at the worst moment, but rather thankfully omitted the view of his hand. Wrapping his arms around Hana’s neck, he fell into her mind, and found calm. There was none of his fear or pain in here, just a feral knowledge that only a Dragon could have possessed. The Source was good? But it ate Winter! A second, an Egg would be born. Then the smoke invaded, and this time it didn’t stand in their combined minds. “Get out, I’m talking to Hana!” Thorne spat to nobody in particular, arching up his back and hissing like a…lizard, now wasn’t that ironic? But thus connected, he wasn’t feeling that good…  
\--  
Hana twirled in midair, shrieking a loud squawk in pure joy. Finally, he got it! He finally listened to her, she wasn’t crazy! Og was crazy, with his horrible roaring and that addling smoke he filled their minds with! Even now, she could feel her mind clearing, melding with Thorne's yet keeping separate. The smoke couldn’t stand up to two minds that fought against it knowingly. Winter must have been the same, with that Dragon of hers, Wisk, right? They must be clear too, Garm and Mark had to separate soon, but not now. Not with the Smoke-breather and his Smoke-minds near him. Hana launched off and glided to the ground below, throwing herself under a tree. Not a moment too late, there was that mind-addlers head. Scum of Dragons, controller of minds. Hana craned her neck back at the weight on her back, already there was a problem, a big one. Oh dear. Thorne was in that sleep state, but she couldn’t wake him from this! Eggs forgive her, but she had to fly away with him like this. Throne had to forgive her. Now where was Wisk and Winter? Their Eggs had to come out, before Og realized what had happened!  
The black Dragon darted to the side of the Source, tapping it with her head. Hurry up! Faster! She could hear it clicking, but her senses felt woefully inadequate without an awake Thorne connected to her. That horrible eye would spot her, and then she'd be under that Smoke-breather’s control once more, or those two traitors would tear her to pieces! Her head perked up, the clicking had changed tune, and was getting closer. Without waiting, Hana caught the two shapes that fell out, buckling under their weight as she tried to balance them in her wings. She couldn't fly with this horrible weight on her! She could scarcely run! Her eyes rolled up to the skies, and the young Dragon trembled. She had to get to her den, and hide. No, no, that was where Og would smoke her out. But hiding out here, where a Drake would likely tear her to shreds, with two Eggs!? A terrible roar shook the air above her, Og had just realized that several minds had been cut off from his control, and Hana gritted her teeth and seized the Egg of Winter under her wings and pushed Wisk’s with her snout. Looks like that was what she was going to have to do. For Thorne. For humanity.  
\--  
Thorne woke with an encyclopedia of knowledge in his head, knowledge that Hana must have sent him. The smoke was gone, now he just felt their connection on a visceral level, like he might spread his wings and fly off into the skies…like the first time they had ever flown, it felt right somehow. Still, they weren’t flying, despite this feeling. Their feet hurt, burned and scraped by the ground and previously exposed acid, and his neck felt stiff, splitting with pain as they pushed something that wasn’t even remotely heavy, but felt horribly heavy under their tiredness. A chill sent him further into consciousness, and he patted Hana’s flank, head pounding as he hissed, “A-are you ok? And-and Winter? She’s…here?” From Hana’s eyes, he could see her rolling an object, and carrying another. Oh, was that it? Winter was going to hatch? Was she going to be herself!? And where in the wide skies even were they!?  
Thorne snapped up, disconnecting from Hana, and instantly regretted it. His hand still hurt, and he almost whimpered except for the fact that his eyes also snapped open, and he was terrified into silence. The trees yawned high above them, plunging them into darkness that he had never seen before, he’d usually be asleep when it was this dark! Hana must have heard his breath catch, for she ceased her efforts in walking and let out a calming purring towards the boy. He smiled a crooked smile up at her, still feeling like crying over the pain in his hand…and their scary surroundings...and the fact that Leo didn’t know this. Was it because Og was clean, so he didn’t know that the unclean weren’t evil? Well, he hoped they weren’t evil, Winter still had to hatch before he could actually tell.  
For now, he and Hana were on their own. “H-hey, Hana? Where're we going?” He didn’t actually expect a reply, just needing to put the question out into the world, but he felt a flicker of thought that didn’t match his own. “Oh, you don’t know?” He mumbled into her back, cracking open an eye and taking an actual look around. This was no forest he recognized on their way over, and they had apparently gotten off the rocky peaks recently since they were on flat land. “How’d you get away? Og was huge.” This time, he nodded seriously as what flickered to mind was her Dragonflame covering their escape route, and proceeding to dive into the most shadowy forest into the world. She was also scared, he guessed that she only got lucky that they hadn’t been hunted by some horrible creature while he was knocked out. He couldn’t pass out again, or he’d probably wake up again while being attacked by a Drake or Hound. Speaking of Hounds, a howl split the sky and made him shudder. “L-Let’s find a place to sleep. It’s scary out here.” He spoke honestly, no way would he state his own fright if Winter and Wisk could hear.  
Hana didn’t quite acknowledge his words, but she huffed and puffed as she shakily changed the big Eggs direction and sent it in a seemingly random direction. While she moved, Thorne looked over her wings and blinked back the sudden wetness. Her feet were shredded, bleeding black fluid with every step she took, only to be hastily covered up with a swipe of her tail. She didn’t even whimper, but Thorne made up his mind and swung off her, teeth feeling that they would break under the pressure he exerted when his hand shot up with pain. Hana chattered worriedly and tried to grasp him by the back of his neck, presumably to pull him back on her back, only for him to dodge her jaws, “Please, I'd feel bad if only you were walking. Besides, if your feel break, I can’t carry you like you can.” Hana fixed him with a stare that made him think that she’d put him back in his place anyway, but she just snorted and continued to limp on the path that she only knew. Thorne kept a hand on her, afraid that he would lose her, and drunkenly followed her rather fast pace. He could only pray that she hadn’t just decided to go looking for a place to sleep, considering their situation.  
In a few minutes of walking, he almost wished he never got off of Hana’s back, but forced his feet to move one after the other. She would never let him live it down if he gave up now! Besides, he had more to be concerned about than his aching legs. His hand have stopped hurting, and no, that was not a good thing. Now he was just terrified that his fingers were beyond saving, he wasn’t like a Dragon, he couldn’t just put metal there and make himself better! He grasped it in his other hand, and swallowed as his hand brushed against a rough surface, dried blood, it must have been. At the very least, his exploration of his hand distracted him from the rest of the walk, and Hana’s search was soon rewarded.  
His head jerked upwards as Hana paused, one foot raised precariously. A scent wafted through the air as well, a chocking smell that reminded him of the Longtails when they had a hard day, a sort of…musk? Whatever it was, it made him cough under his breath before turning to Hana, “What’s that smell?” He hissed to her, this time expecting an answer from the silent Dragon…until she wasn’t silent anymore, chattering her teeth in a manner that made his ears ring as it got louder and more threatening than mere words could convey. A rush of energy filled his tired frame when his eyes focused on a chunk of rock raising out of the ground, proceeding downwards as it lengthened out. A den, and so well made too! Wait. So well made? Out here? Suddenly, he quite understood Hana’s threatening demeanor, sensing the wariness within her as his own emotions molded into similar fear.  
Hana dropped Winter’s Egg, stepped around Wisk’s Egg, and gasped her mouth wide in a horrific hiss. Up until that moment, Thorne couldn’t actually see what exactly Hana was trying to scare away. A “rock” shifted at the sound of Hana’s hiss, and then a second “rock” by its side cracked open a yellow eye. “High skies, they’re Drakes!” Thorne babbled as they rose onto a bipedal stance. Just their luck, they couldn’t have gotten the clumsy four legged breed, now could they? “We'll just find another Hana, Drakes are dangerous with a flight, much less grounded!” Already the Drakes were responding to their natural prey, a lone Dragon. Much like a Hound, a Dragon was far less dangerous out of their natural environment, in a group and in the air. Hana just fixed him with a dreadfully patronizing glare, like he was just a hatchling instead of the Tail he had just become, and then stepped forward into danger's waiting arms. She left the Eggs with him, and he understood, they had to shield the Eggs, she had to have them hatch in safety.  
The brutish Drakes belched and grumbled at each other in their horrible version of communication, then started to advance on the Dragon. They were the same size as Hana, but a lot more bulky, they looked like they could crush an Egg with one claw. Thorne grasped at the two Eggs, panicking as he realized it was now his duty to guard his friends. He'd break them, he only had one good hand, how in the high skies was he supposed to be a guard for them!? Unlike him, Hana didn’t hesitate, already having resigned herself to a fight. Her form moved fast, sending Thorne flinching back as she suddenly collided with the closest Drake in a blue of movement. His eyes, fake and real, flickered to life and sparked up a spectacle of light hat made Thorne's eyes burn and water. Apparently it had the same effect of the Drakes, who roared and raised their forelegs to their faces. In the light, Thorne could see their uncanniness and metallic skin. They were unclean, as if this situation couldn’t get any worse. The one that Hana was currently grappling wrapped its arms around her back and squeezed harshly, flinging her away the moment her grip on its chest relaxed. She snapped and chattered her usual chatter as she was torn away, taking a chunk of the Drake's metallic flesh with her on her way away. A bolt of pain, almost like the lightning that leapt from a Dragon's wound, flashed through Thorne’s head and forced a yelp from him, attracting the worst attention possible.  
Dual yellow eyes fixed upon him, and Thorne noted with horrible certainty that this Drake was far more unclean, silver horns pulled from its forehead in terrible points. It charged, and Thorne knew that nothing was going to stop it. Indeed, Hana spat an arc of ice in its path, and it smashed through with the slightest hint of a pause. Thorne couldn’t help but to scream, pushing Wisk’s Egg into the bushes and flinging Winter’s after before throwing himself to the open forest away from the Drake. In this, he failed to notice the soft light flickering off the Eggs. Even if her had, the lopsided impact he suffered would have torn his attention away anyway. The Drake's horns just grazed his legs, and he had to thank the stars that lurked in the skies that he didn’t hear them crunch under the pain that followed. Yet he was still hit, and flung to the ground in a shower of dust. The boy found himself spitting up dirt as he scrambled on all fours as the Drake's legs pounded the ground just inches from his prone body. Something keened near the entrance of the dens, and he raised his head just a fraction of a second to see that Hana was tumbling in the dirt with the other Drake, both snapping at the other's throat before a plume of dust covered whatever details he could see before.  
Then the Drake raised him in the air by his shirt, the claws just barely grazing him yet cutting him deep enough to send him yelling in blind panic. The keening stopped, replaced by thudding footsteps that increased in intensity as they approached, and Thorne found himself falling through the air. The panic consumed him briefly as he clawed the air for any grasping point. Which way was up!? He didn’t want to break anything else, his hand was already broken! Teeth snapped around his ankle, but noticeably absent in pain. “Hana?” He almost sobbed, heaving himself onto her back, and connecting gratefully, his own pain melting, but not totally disappearing, into her own mind. Her anger quickly cancelled out his fear, and Hana released a great plume of Dragonflame towards her enemies, but there was pain. A deep scratch on her clean flank, the tip of her tail was gone, and the absence of pain on one of her unclean toes let him now she had lost it in her brawl with the Drake. This wasn’t even mentioning some of her missing teeth, but he knew those at the very least would grow back without a problem. Regardless, he wasn’t going to let her be hurt even more than she was already, and opened his eyes to her vision.  
The Drake's paused at their connection, grumbling to each other in the parody of talking that had filled his ears throughout the whole encounter. To his surprise, Thorne found himself and Hana replying in an ugly croaking, he could tell that it was natural for her, but the ugly growls felt scratchy in his clean throat. The Drakes stared venomously at the duo, and snarled. Oh dear, what exactly had Hana and him said to these things!? Whatever it was, Hana sure felt smug about it, and raised her claws at the engaging enemy. Thorne supposed he couldn’t hate her for her excitement, she was a Dragon. Her enemy was Drakes, Hounds, and Rocs. Her duty was to guard him. It was literally in her nature to fight with more regard for him than herself, he had seen that nature in Wisk, he just thought that she was too kind to engage the enemy so readily. Guess that kindness was just for him and friends. Whatever was her nature, Hana threw herself into battle readily enough.  
Thorne yelped at the collision, Hana raising her head and wings to shield him as she bashed her damaged feet into the face of the horned Drake, spitting spiteful Dragonflame into its face to finish off her attack. The trees tickled his back as she flapped carefully, attempting to attain and keep the higher ground from these ground bound beasts. Black blood streamed from the horned one's face, the other pausing to growl a concerned note at their mate as they peeled the icy covering from their face. Her tail smashed into the other’s back, and her wing tips carved into both backs. Thorne stayed flattened to here back and barked the directions of incoming attacks, sending them jerking from side to side as she fluttered to avoid the strikes. But, trapped under the trees, Hana could only keep the battle at a stalemate for so long. She swerved away from a claw intent on tearing open her already injured flank, and fell right into another thick arm of a Drake. Thorne's vision was cut off as Hana’s eyes collided into the ground, and he was blind to the next attack. A snapping sound rang out just inches from his face, and the viscous fluid of Dragon blood hitting his cheek, and then his arm erupted in pain. He could feel what she was doing, and his heart fell. She had blocked his head from vicious fangs using her own wing, they were truly grounded now.  
From there on then, the battle was completely skewed in their enemies favor. For every slash she managed to open on the Drake’s flesh, she herself had to roll with a harsh blow just to avoid ruining her other wing or legs. But her metal was wearing down, her body lined with bruises, and her wing dragged pitifully for every movement she made. Thorne could feel desperation starting to cloud their minds, filled with worry over Winter and Wisk being murdered before they were even hatched. Their patience with this battle wore thin, and then snapped. Hana pounced suicidally at the duo, relying on the element of surprise at such a pointless attack. She landed on the hornless one’s back, digging her talons deep as it bucked and howled, and spat out a long stream of Dragonflame onto its neck. She emptied her supply in the attack, by this point simply wanting to kill one Drake at the very least. It chocked as the ice constricted around its throat, the icy collar sapping heat from its body at a terrifying rate as it stumbled drunkenly under her feet, and then collapsed. Thorne felt a brief burst of glee at their kill, giggling uncertainly before dread filled his chest. The Drake was roaring into the sky, not stopping even as its voice cracked and molded into a high screech. The sound made Thorne’s heart tremor and his throat close up, this…sound, it was grief. Had they just killed its mate? He never even thought about why two Drakes would nest together.  
Hana narrowed her eyes, attempting to advance. Her remaining good wing raised threateningly, and the black fluid coating her body and dripping from her claws gave her an impressive, but it wasn’t enough. The Drake wasn’t intimidated, blinded by emotions, and flung itself at them. Its head lowered as it galloped in an ungainly manner, roaring out rage against them before impact. Hana raised a foot to kick at the horribly quick creature, landing a kick on its thick skull, her claws bursting through its metallic skin and making it bleed a black fluid. Her kick was devastating, but it had no stopping power. The Drake may have been brutally injured, Hana’s claws still squirmed in its tough flesh, but she might as well have not hit it for all it cared. The Drake just kept running. Hana tried to raise a wing to fling herself out of the heavy impact, but only managed to twist enough to keep Thorne safe as she buckled and was thrown into a tree. One of his viewpoints went blind, and Thorne gasped at his realization at what just happened, the horn was in Hana’s unclean eye. Then everything hurt, Hana lunged forward and crunched down on the Drake’s neck, hissing through her teeth as she scratched at its face. Another shriek, from both Hana and Thorne, ripped through the air as the Drake puffed and shook its head viciously, driving its horns deeper and deeper as its head moved.  
Thorne tried to enable Hana’s movements, he really did, but everything he did felt like he was just delaying the inevitable. Hana could tear open the Drake in all manner of ways, but her wound was being torn wider in many other ways, and he could feel her muscles starting to grind to a halt. Her blows were weaker, her defenses breaking down as her blood spilled out into the dirt, and even if the Drake was dying as well, it seemed that it was going to bring him and Hana with it. Indeed, Hana’s mind started to crackle and burn, forcing his own mind to withdraw. He even started to open his actual eyes to see the battle taking place before him, the black blood of unclean creatures starting to coat his hair and face. Hana was going to lose to this Drake, and it was going to eat her. It was going to eat him, he'd be defenseless without a Dragon, it would catch him no matter what he did. Inevitably, Hana slipped in her own blood and pitched forward. The Drake snarled and raised its arm to smash into her head, and Thorne closed his eyes, incidentally missing the scene that happened before him thanks to this.  
A thin stream of something arched from the shadows and splashed against the dreadfully injured Drake's neck, spilling into several of its wounds. A popping noise suddenly broke the silence that had fallen at the interruption, and Hana scrambled away as a smelly smoke started to rise from the area the liquid had hit. The flesh was being eaten away, deeper and deeper until Thorne could see an actual hole within the beast's throat. Breath hissed from the Drake’s throat, and once again it seemed intent on fighting until the very end of this life. Nearly losing its footing, it stumbled in the general direction of the spit, where the Eggs were. Hana’s head snapped up, and she leapt onto the Drake’s tail to stop its advance, at the same time something else sprung out of the shadows with a rigid gasp of air as it bowled over the Drake.  
It was Wisk, pinning the Drake with their many legs. Thorne’s eyes roved over the Dragon's body, far more unclean than it had started. Two completely metallic legs, shimmering beautifully and ending in sharp points, extended from Wisk’s back. The legs pierced deep, much deeper than Hana’s claws had managed, leaving the Drake twisting under the newly hatched Dragon. Wisk’s organic forelegs moved, clasping the Drake’s new extending injury and worsening it by pulling it wider and wider. Within seconds, the Drake had finally stopped moving and collapsed backwards, its black blood bubbling from its ruined throat and coating the forest floor in awful smelling ooze. Thorne gasped through his mouth, disconnecting from Hana to cover his nose and wipe his watering eyes, irritated from the constant unclean blood flying around. “W-Wisk? Its…its you, right? You’re, you’re friendly? Please.” If Wisk and Winter turning unclean made them evil or unlovable, he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to live with himself.  
Green eyes turned to him, and he froze, but not Hana. A happy squawk shook her injured frame when she bolted forward, and managed to butt her head into Wisk’s chest. From this close to him, Thorne thought Wisk was even more terrifying than before. Wisk now had an extra pair of eyes on his throat, a pair that felt like they were staring right into his heart, or his sky fearing soul. Metal protrusions erupted from the sides of Wisk’s mouth, and it took Thorne a second to associate it with the insectoid Dragon. They were mandibles, a pair that twitched as Wisk breathed and lowered their head to nuzzle Hana, a move that was almost too adorable for the terrible looking Dragon. Thorne almost let a chuckle shake his own frame, and stopped not only because of the pain arching through his body, but because he noticed something was missing. “Wait, where’s Winter, Wisk!?” He babbled, flinching as his hand screamed in protest. He didn’t brake her Egg, did he? No, Wisk would look for her then, but where was she in the first place!?  
“Ri-right…h-here.” Thorne turned happily to the source of the voice, mouth turning upwards into a dumb smile, then fell. That could not have been Winter, it was too horrible. She was human, she had to be, what had he let her turn into now? A metal limb scraped the ground, leaving a deep furrow into the dirt as an organic leg hobbled forward. He could see where her clothing had ended up getting fused with the metal into her skin, to her back, to one of her legs, and one near her collar. Worst of all was when he dared to look up at her face, almost closing his eyes because he knew it was going to be inhuman. And he was right, he was completely right. Her left eye blinked intelligently at her, normal and what he remembered, but her right eye. It matched Wisk’s, staring into his soul, and his breath started to catch in his throat. “W-Winter? I can’t even…I can’t tell, what happened Winter? The Source did this to you?” He almost feared she wouldn’t answer, that she would be deaf to his words, he could see where metal had covered her ears, but she raised her head at the sound of his voice. “Yes.” Her voice crackled, it must have originated from some unknown source in her throat. Yet it was unmistakably her, and that somehow hurt more. “D-does it hurt?” He whimpered, only just barely looking at her, not really wanting an answer. She sighed, again, the sound originated from somewhere deep in her throat, “Yes, it aches.” Thorne flinched as if the words were physical, and slowly hobbled off of Hana, stepping towards Winter to get a better look at what he had damned her to.  
The shiny metal she had become encased in was almost horribly beautiful, and Thorne suddenly sniffed harshly, “I’m so, so sorry.” His voice started off normal enough, but started to break down into sobs the longer he looked at Winter, “I-I dropped you into the Source! You’re…you aren’t clean any more. I d-did that.” Before long, his vision wavered and blurred, reducing the sight before him into some splotchy picture that he wished would be gone when he wiped his eyes, only to find that the mechanical Winter was still there, but now she was looking at him with a new expression in her organic eye. “Your hand, it’s hurt.” She voiced, and Thorne could read her mood well enough to know she'd question his new injury. “Ah-ah! Yeah. It just kinda happened when, you know, I tried to catch you. It’s only a little, doesn’t even hurt all that much anymore.” While he spoke, he raised his hand, coated in scratchy, dried blood, and flinched when Winter snatched it and held it up to her face.  
Now that he was getting a better look at what he had done to his own hand, he understood her concern. The light shining from both Wisk and Hana illuminated his injury, and he chocked down a scream at the state of his hand. He already knew that blood would be coating it, and was not a surprise that the dark scarlet was quite literally a shell binding his fingers together, but the extent of what he had done to himself made his stomach roll. Fleshy strips hung off his knuckles and exposed stark white in between the red. His fingers curled against his palm without his own volition, judging by the fact that he could see clean breaks within the ends and beginnings, he doubted he could have moved his fingers by himself even if he had the courage to try and move them. “A little. An understatement, Thorne.” Winter breathed, holding his arm still as it tried to tremble, “Have you looked at your wound?” He didn’t even have to say anything, for she sighed and shook her head, a strange creaking emanating from the base of her neck when she moved, “Oh course you didn’t. Too dark, furthermore, one hand would have made first aid impossible anyhow.” With her rambling on and on, Thorne could have easily forgot that she was turned unclean in what he thought must have been a terrible experience. He wanted to ask her about it, but found himself being led by the hand to the den that they had fought to the death for, Winter grumbling under her breath, “You found a den? Of course, a Drake den, must be big enough for all of us. Wisk! Follow!” Thorne looked over his shoulder to see that the Dragons were currently rubbing snouts happily, chirping in a fashion that sounded more appropriate for birds than the draconian beasts currently comforting each other. Both shot up as Winter spoke, and Wisk lowered his head to grasp Hana’s shoulder and heave her up onto her feet, lingering as she stumbled and pushing her forward once she had gotten her bearings, a situation that reminded Thorne of his own being lead by hand by Winter.  
She set him down like some unpleasant luggage at the foot of the den and hobbled off to the forest, Thorne found he could do nothing but wait for her to come back as she looked over her shoulder and hissed for him to stay like some disobedient Hound when he tried to get back up. Wisk put Hana down much more gently, but Thorne could understand. As the battle winded down, he could notice her injuries, but with Wisk’s illumination, he saw it in full. A three clawed tear down her flank still wept blackened fluid, moving so slowly now that it was more comparable to sludge than anything else. She licked pitifully at her feet, which he had already noticed the missing toe, which was thankfully unclean, even if he had no idea where he was going to get metal to reintroduce into the area. Her feet were almost completely stripped of flesh and steel, leaving him to witness the shiny bones she had within, which were thankfully unharmed, he had heard that Dragon bone was made from a strange metal nobody had a name for, much less gathered on a daily basis. Countless tears and bruises littered her body, and were scabbing over in strange barriers of squishy black. Most of all, she looked tired, plain and simple, as if she might fall asleep at any moment. Pitying her, Thorne placed his hand on her head and stroked it gently, smiling softly as she chattered and finally set her head down.  
And not a moment too soon, for Winter was back, dragging her metal foot determinedly. She carried an assortment of twigs and two rocks, which she explained with a blunt, “Kindling.” Before holding up some particularly straight twigs, “Bracers, to hold your hand.” Thorne tried to nod alertly to her explanation, but found himself stifling a yawn and closing his eyes for what he wished was an eternity, only to be snapped back into wakefulness when Wisk prodded his shoulder with his new leg. Winter sniffed disapprovingly, and started setting up the kindling outside the den, adjusting it so many times as if she believed there was some kind of perfection needed. Perhaps in her mind, there was. However, she soon stopped, tilting her head slightly as she lined up the rocks and struck. The first few sparks refused to light, but persistence paid off before long and Winter flinched back as a small fire roared upwards before being roused even higher than before as she blew cautiously into the blaze. She worked quickly and methodically, one might even say, robotically. Finally, she arrived her the problem case, Thorne and his broken fingers.  
At the very least, he supposed, she didn’t wait around to do what needed to be done, which he had been dreading the entire time she’d been setting up the fire. She seized his fingers, and he started to try and focus only on the waves of heat that started to roll off their fire. Still didn’t make a lick of a difference when she started to unfurl his damaged fingers. The sound alone of shifting bones made him want to heave, the horrible pain that ripped through his fingers made this want a reality. Surprisingly, Winter flinched back as he yelped and coughed, but soldiered on, if only because she couldn’t leave him with dreadfully broken fingers only half way fixed. By the time his hand was straightened out, Thorne considered himself lucky in that he didn’t eat anything, for that meal would have no doubt been on the floor if his stomach was any indication of his state. Winter set the twigs against his fingers, leaving him feeling like he had wooden claws bursting from his fingers by the time she had torn a line from her sleeves and started wrapping it in place. “There, a rush job. I would want to do better, but that will have to do.” Words were being tempted at the end of Thorne's tongue, and he finally gave rise to the question that begged to be asked by this point, “And what about you?” He mumbled, rotating his hand to get a look at the torn and battered appendages. Winter blinked, pointingly avoiding his eyes, “What about me, I am uninjured, as you can see.” Already, even through a haze of sleepiness, Thorne could feel a familiar anger start to bubble in his throat, becoming words in seconds, “Ugh! You! Fell in the Source! Did it hurt, are you hurting now!? And Leo tricked us, Hana and Wisk are different now that we're away from Og, and you and Wisk hatched from Eggs and fought a bunch of stupid Drakes! Don’t you want to, you know, talk about it a little bit!?”  
To his surprise, Winter answered in full, “I don’t remember it hurting, I simply fell asleep once the shell closed. I hurt less every second. Wisk is still Wisk, however, he have improved physically, and now breaths acidic Dragonflame. I…am aware that we were tricked. My mind is much clearer than it have ever been before, and I know that Og was a Smoke-breather, however, under his influence, I found it quite impossible to speak about it…or even think about it, but now, I can. The Egg cleared my mind, let me wake more alert than before. Now here we are, finished fighting Drakes. I talked, is that what you wished to hear from me?” Thorne couldn't help his next question, though she looked tired and simply as if she wanted to forgo this conversation completely, he had to know. “A-are…are you ok?” She turned her eyes up at him, unclean eye staring and taking up more of her face, but her expression was blank. “I am not injured, unlike you. The Source did not hurt me and,” She seemed to consider her next words carefully, then almost whispered out, “I am alright, albeit slightly frightened.” Already, Thorne knew that this answer was all he was getting out of her, she had already fallen silent and was hanging her head. He couldn’t force her, it didn’t take a genius to know that she had a great will, possibly more than him, and was the one going through all this. He wasn’t sure how he would react to being unclean all of the sudden, he didn’t even like to mention he was called “Lizard” when he was a hatchling for skies sake, so he didn’t push it, if only because both of them looked horribly tired.  
“So, Wisk breathes Dragonflame now, that’s a milestone!” He attempted to change the subject in a hurry, grinning shakily and averting his gaze to look upon Wisk, who regarded him with about the same intelligence as Winter, but without the expression to let him know if he was pushing some boundary. Thankfully, knowingly or not, Winter took the bait. “An acidic based Dragonflame. Wisk is now invaluable to a fight. I am happy for him, I was not aware that we would have such a rare brand of Dragonflame.” A small smile cracked open her mouth, one side of her teeth noticeably shiner and longer than the other, but Thorne flicked his gaze away before it could turn into staring. “When Wisk is bigger, we will have a powerful Dragon at our disposal, if we combine this with Hana, we could have an effective combination of attack.” Without meaning to, Thorne unknowingly pointed out a fact that neither wanted to acknowledge, “What about with Garm or Mark…if they were…you know, here.” And immediately, their reality was back, hanging over their heads like the dreadful smoke that no doubt was influencing their left behind flight mates. Just as Thorne was about to cut off his own question, convinced that the reminder of their situation was too much to deal with at the moment, Winter shook her head and easily continued, “What could they do with our Dragonflame? That’s a question, now isn’t it?” Thorne could feel an impatience starting to fill his chest, one that made him want to fly back to the dens and wrench May and Patches away from Og, a desire that didn’t care whether he’d be killed or not in his mission, but this pointless conversation was keeping him grounded, at least for now. “Garm and Hana could work a temperature control, or destruction if meshed with Wisk, two possibilities we cannot ignore. Though I fear Mark may be useless at the moment, if he hadn’t breathed Dragonflame yet, but possibility still stands.” Both Tails sat stock still, still unwilling to acknowledge their situation, then Thorne blurted out his opinion on the whole thing, “This is so stupid.”  
Winter nodded stiffly, “Indeed, this is all rather pointless, correct?” Thorne sighed and pulled his knees in, using his face behind them and letting his injured hand hang to the side, “What do we do now? At least that isn’t pointless.” Winter's unclean eye flickered at this, and Wisk’s eye soon joined hers in an odd response before she chose to speak, “Somehow, Wisk knows that danger is near, despite our victory over the Drakes. I can feel fear for us, thus, I can only imagine that this means we are certainly in danger. You are in danger of falling back under control of Leo.” Thorne grunted noncommittally at this, “While if Leo despises the Sources so much, I believe I am under danger of being destroyed, neither which I intend to wait for, therefore,” She pointed to the fire, “That will be out by morning, stealth is our only option with an injured Dragon. We will try to repair her wing at least, but prepare for the worst, or at the very least rest. Next, I imagine we have to get May and Patches back, before they are completely controlled.” Thorne frowned, “So we're going back near the dens, where Og is more likely to kill us.” Winter nodded, “That is the plan, yes. Leo is absolutely likely to undermine this action to the best of his ability, however. Is that a problem?” His lips twitched up in a feral grin, “Well, I do miss our den, and what else can happen? He'll find us eventually.” It was true, with Og's smoke breather status, general intimidation, and Leo’s Longtail status, it wouldn’t be hard for him to find them again with a select group of Dragons like Garm. Better than Garm even, with Hana so injured, it'd probably be child’s play to find them again. Thorne grunted and started to flop to his side, feeling like he was going to go crazy if he thought about this too long, “Can we sleep? I can’t think about this when I’m this tired.” He almost expected her to refuse, to want to talk about the plan more, until Winter’s yawn filled the air, “You are correct, breaking from the Egg was very tiring for me, and we need all our energy if we are to combat this menace. Rest well Thorne. Wisk will keep watch, in fact, is happy to do so if it will let Hana heal.” As she spoke, Hana shuffled over to where Thorne lay and placed her head on his shoulder, eyes already flickering close, entirely too tired to stay awake any longer than she had already. Winter started to allow herself relaxation as well, laying her back against a nearby wall, mouth still mouthing words as if she still had more plans to spout out.  
Before Thorne could allow himself to sleep, tempting as it was, he had to say something, “Winter?” He whispered, waiting a second before he realized the tilting of her head was Winter acknowledging his words, “I-I'm really sorry I didn’t catch you.” Silence filled the air, and he almost expected to fall asleep before he heard her answer. “It is fine Thorne, I have already told you…Thorne?” He opened his eyes to see her staring at his injured hand, “Thank you for trying to catch me.”  
\--  
The day woke with pain. Thorne’s shoulder ached where Hana’s chin wedged him in between her weight and the ground, his hand pounded every time his heart beat, and he could feel where an ugly bruise was forming over his ankles and under his knees. Yesterday had certainly done a number on him, but this might have been tolerable if not for one other thing. His connection to Hana flared up even without being on her back, and he could feel nonexistent injuries popping up all around a phantom body of his. His wing blazed with searing pain, his claws were completely numb, and his snout pulsed with pain. All combined, Thorne woke with a gasp and a whimper, slithering out from Hana’s touch and struggling not to heave onto the ground as he leaned on his knees. Quite suddenly, there was a cold hand on his back, rather gentle despite the fact that it was hard. “Do you feel sufficient enough to start our mission?” Every fiber in his bones wanted him to say no, or at the very least, throw up, but he couldn’t do that today, could he? He wiped at his mouth, trying not to dwell on the sour taste that lingered on his tongue, and croaked out, “Come on Hana. Flight needs us.” Perhaps she felt about as horrible as he did, since a pitiful moan leaked out of her throat before she tenderly reached out her feet, flinching a few times as she brushed against the ground, then slowly shuffled up to her feet. The tiredness and adrenaline of yesterday had finally worn off, and the only thing Thorne could say when she was finally on her feet was that she really did look broken.  
On the other hand, Wisk was looking even more impressive now that the sun was out. Blood from the Drake still coated the ends of his sharp legs, and yet Wisk walked with a certain dignity and quietness that only a Dragon of their caliber could manage. Winter was similarly impressive, flesh and metal mixed together in a way that Thorne doubted normal nature could ever manage on its own, but looking at her just made his stomach flip flop and his eyes burn, so he didn’t look to long. If he cried, Winter likely wouldn’t let them leave this den yet, because then he’d clearly be helpless in a fight. So he sucked it up, painful as it was, took a shaking breath, and squeaked out a, “I’m fine, see?” and stood up cautiously. Winter still had to dart forward to grab his good arm to keep from falling flat on his face, but he proved his point, he was ready for whatever happened today. Winter didn’t look convinced, but allowed him the dignity to decide his own being fine, and turned him slowly to Hana. “Wisk went hunting during the night once I woke up, I don’t know how your Dragon brought us here, but this place is very metal rich, and we have found metal.” Now this perked Thorne up, and he stood as tall as he could to find that she had not lied, a grouping of what appeared to be slightly melted metal laid at the mouth of the den. It looked like iron, but it’d have to do. “Psst! Go and get it Hana!” He attempted to bark, and just managed to sound loud enough for Hana to start limping toward the entrance.  
Abruptly, Thorne blinked at Winter, eyes widening at one particular aspect of her. “You’re walking?” Her leg was bending as she moved, not dragging like before, that was certainly new. She herself looked surprised at his observation, and looked down at herself curiously. “Indeed I am, now that is new.” In a move that reminded Thorne that she was actually his age, Winter looked down at herself in wonder and tilted her head as she lifted and put down her foot, “It’s a strange feeling, not terrible, however. Requires a little thought.” Her foot was moving with no muscle, bending and twisting like an actual foot. Still, she wasn’t perfect. In a moment of confidence, she hopped in place and in seconds, Thorne found himself having to support her as she almost fell to the side. “I have not mastered this body yet.” She explained calmly, but Thorne could see a twinge of red that coated on one side of her cheek, which she turned away from Thorne quickly. “E-enough play, we must go or-“ Both she and Thorne flinched back as a subtle sound of crackling wings sounded above them, and Hana scrambled back into the den, holding a chunk of metal in her mouth. It looked like their plan had to start even faster than they thought it would. “We have to go now.” Winter intoned, already walking towards Wisk, who bristled when Hana had run inside and haven’t quite calmed down even as Winter tried to climb upon her Dragon.  
“Hana?” Thorne whispered, “Were they coming towards us?” The Dragon looked outwards, seemingly hearing something far into the distance, and then shook her head with a glad sigh. “We have time Winter, can I help her get her talons back?” He put a sort of whine in his voice, knowing that it was annoying yet helping make his case that whatever he was doing, it was very important. Luckily, it worked, and Winter directed Wisk to the edge of the den, speaking soft enough that Thorne almost didn’t hear her answer, “Do what you want, but do it fast, please. We will watch.” Smartly, Wisk didn’t exit the den, lowering their head and studying whatever edges of vision they could manage to see. Thorne assumed that Winter was working as the ears of the Dragon, judging by the intense concentration on her face and Wisk twitching every now and then at a tiny sound. Hana nudged his shoulder, and Thorne forced himself to focus on the repair of Hana. Needless to say, he had never tried to repair a Dragon before, and it looked like it was going to be about as successful as the cobbled together brave his hand was currently inhabiting. Hana did her best, tearing chunks of the iron with her teeth and flattening them out to the best of her ability, and Thorne held the strips of metal to her shiny bones until they stuck. The work was slow and tedious, and Thorne found himself fumbling with his one good hand as he struggled to make this activity go faster, even though the act itself constituted great concentration and focus, two things that usually meant slowing down and thinking about your next move. Winter hissed under her breath, “I hear activity, are you done yet Thorne? It appears we must skip any possible meal and move.” She wasn’t wrong, and Thorne fell back on his heels and looked over his work. His work was hideous, to be honest. Sharp pinpricks of metal were everywhere but where her actual talons were supposed to be, and he distinctly noted how her body had only managed to attain a soft grey in the area, rather than the vivid black that was supposed to be fading in right about now. On top of that, her talons were actually looking a little bit flat. For all his work, it’s be a miracle if she could walk, much less run. Guess he and Hana were to fly most of this mission. “It’s not done, but it’ll have to do, huh Hana?” He grumbled, rubbing at his stupid injured hand, if it were healed, he could have done better by Hana.  
At the very least, Hana didn’t hold his failure against him, ramming her head into his chest with enough pure affection to nearly bowl him over, Hana was clearly ok. He grasped at her head and started to swing onto her back, attempting to move slowly for the both of them, his hand pounded every time he brushed it against her side, but he finally made it. Hana squawked in triumph as he made to connect to her, as if the simple task of climbing her was the greatest thing he had ever done yet. Perhaps it was right now, Thorne was beat up far more than he had ever been before, or she could have been trying to cheer him up. Either felt like possibilities at the moment. Having done her encouragement for today, Hana attempted to take a step forward, and then promptly fell forward onto her chest, feet having crumbled beneath her as she tried to balance them in a manner she had walked before. Even with her metallic flesh gone, she had managed to walk before, her feet still lined up the way she imagined it did, but this was new. New flesh clung to her bones, was numbed from lack of walking, didn’t move the way she thought her feet should move.  
Apologetically, Thorne patted Hana on the head, having been disconnected in her fall. Hana shook off his hand, snorting angrily at her failure, like Dragon, like human, Thorne supposed. She dragged her feet up to her chest, and a chill started to color the air soft colors. Her Dragonflame slipped from her jaws, and she spat the icy liquid onto her own feel, letting out a hiss as the ice started to coat her feet. Thorne felt her pain abruptly, good hand flying down to grasp at his now suddenly numb foot. By the skies! That hurt like crazy! It worked however, and Hana flexed her foot and grimaced as her iron foot broke free of its icy restraints. This time, it moved the way she actually wanted it to move, and she slid onto her feet once more, letting out a quick breath when her feet settled on the rocky and hard floor. A step, then another, letting out a breath each time. Thorne quickly connected to her mind, gasping as the sudden pain assaulted him once more, but at the very least it split between him and Hana, so she could walk better now.  
Through all this, Winter patiently waited upon Wisk, not even offering a word of help in his direction. One might consider this cold, but Thorne could not be happier that she let his painful problem stay between him and Hana. Wisk turned their head towards the duo of Hana and Thorne, eyes glimmering slightly and letting Thorne know that it was Winter gazing upon his handiwork now. “S-sorry. We’re ready now, just, don’t run too fast, ok? Skies know that Hana can’t keep up too well, thanks to her feet.” Wisk looked down, and the many eyes upon their neck narrowed as a soft growl emanated from both Wisk and Hana, both heavily affected by the sight of her feet so heavily damaged and so immaturely put together. Thorne blushed as he realized that Wisk was expressing sympathy to his Dragon, and spoke a little too loudly as he drove Hana forward, “Let’s go, before Og gets Garm to find us again!” If he heard correctly, Winter chuckled under her breath and took off with Wisk.  
Predictably, Wisk was far more certain of themselves than Hana with her wrecked feet. Thorne flinched at every single harsh movement or loud noise that Hana created, tripping over her own talons or pitching into a grasping bush. Wisk made similar mistakes, however, one leg crushing a twig with new strength that Winter didn’t know they had now or getting stuck to thorns when Wisk misjudged how small their mandibles were now. All in all, they were a pretty ridiculous sight as they attempted to dart through the forest's depths, clearly out of their element. Hana’s eyes turned upwards, and Thorne kept his eyes on the sky. Every now and then, shapes flitted across the sky, Dragons. They were searching outwards, likely unaware that they were taking a suicidal risk going back to the dens. That was good, a fight would be suicide with Hana’s condition. “Move quickly, as well as you can. We must find a valid take off point, before they realize we head this direction.” The words seemed more for herself than anybody else, her face was paler than usual, and her unclean eye flickered over and over as if she were blinking. She was scared, Thorne realized with a start, and no wonder! She was completely different now, what would she do even if they succeeded?  
He didn’t have time to dwell upon the situation, Hana and Wisk bursting from the thick forest into a sunny field, which was mercifully clear of any enemies. They didn’t wait, any second they waited could have a Dragon discover them, and opened their wings to soar into the skies. Well, Hana soared. Despite her torn wing, apparently a night's rest was enough to make her air worthy again, as she could adjust and favor that side. Wisk, not so much. A new body meant new movements. Extra wings meant more power every single flap they made, and extra legs meant more weight to lift away and keep from making them lean over too much. At the moment, Wisk barely had correct wing movement, much less how to fold their legs in a way that didn’t crush Winter on their back. Hana could have taken off at a breakneck speed, but wouldn’t, not if Wisk couldn’t follow. She tucked her wing back and whipped toward Wisk, chattering in concern when the impressive looking Dragon was suddenly not so impressive, having pitched downwards and was now clinging valiantly to the top of a tree. “Hurry up!” Thorne spat out as the situation showed no signs of improvement any time soon.  
Wisk wiggled their haunches briefly, hissing in what almost sounded like fear as they practically fell off the tree and whipped their wings open. Winter gasped as they managed a clumsy flight, frantically clutching Wisk’s back and face set in desperate concentration. Hana’s eyes were sharp, flitting around constantly before Thorne directed the Dragon downwards, “Oh no, oh skies. There’s shapes in the skies. Follow me, fly fast, please!” Their mission had just begun and he already feared that they were found out. Hana’s own fear bore her onwards with barely any chance to even see their surroundings properly. Thorne couldn’t complain though, pressed flat against Hana’s back, he wasn’t even the one who brought Winter and Wisk there, he felt lots more confident in letting Hana take the lead in this flight. Wisk’s wings were clumsy, but they were fast, buzzing like an insect as they lingered on Hana’s tail.  
Flying blind like this, and finally truly awake. Thorne couldn’t help but to think about everything that had happened recently, what else could he do, sleep!? His thoughts lingered mostly on whether his hand could be fixed, if they could have a chance to fix Hana with steel, and stupid, fleeting thoughts like wondering if Winter could eat unclean meals now, but at some point, he had to acknowledge the thought that hovered in the back of his mind, one that had appeared ever since Og's smoke had left for good. Had Leo actually cared about him? Any of them? When they destroyed the Source, he seemed so happy, like family. But Og was a Smoke-breather, and Hana’s knowledge told him of his smoke addling their minds, twisting them to be…to be obedient. He never even noticed, not until it was gone, so he had to acknowledge a terrible possibility. He might have been controlled by that Smoke-breather for who knows how long, Leo could have put it in his food, like the Smoke-bat. So, how true was his loyalty to Leo, how true was Leo’s caring for him? His thoughts must have started to leak into Hana’s own, as her back shook in a spontaneous growl that drew Wisk’s attention, and Thorne cut off his own thoughts in shame. He was distracting them, it was stupid, he could have a crisis after he got May and Patches away from Leo! That was more important than whether or not Leo was his friend.  
He forced himself to focus as Hana’s path struck true, flapping higher briefly to give him view of their destination. The dens, Dragons streaming around it in a veritable cloud of masses. He recognized the maneuver, at least theoretically, and that made him groan in despair. It was a maneuver meant to defend the dens, only Longtails could leave the formation as needed, and Tails were told to attack anything that approached that wasn’t a Longtail, to protect the hatchlings. Thorne had never actually seen the procedure in action before, they usually saved it for times like if a flight of Rocs decided to attack, but it never actually hit him that it could be used in such a horribly effective way to keep Dragons out as well! It was the Eggshell, nothing was getting in, nothing was getting out, damn the amount of force you threw at it. On top of it all, there was Og, it always had to be something, didn’t it? Hana dove down, and fear flooded her head as she gasped through her teeth and perched hurriedly on an outstretched branch. Then there was Wisk, pressing the top of their head to a tree trunk and clutching the tree hard enough to dig up grooves. “Dang it. Oh damn!” Thorne cried out, caught up in Hana’s own fear. If Og was there, he could breath smoke into their minds again, or maybe he was controlling every single Tail there now. Either way, it was hopeless! Winter wasn’t any better, mumbling words under her breath that even Thorne couldn’t bring himself to say, upset as he was. “W-we can’t get in, the smoke will get us if we approach from the air, and the Tails will tear us apart if we climb from the ground. We can’t succeed, the den is impenetrable when the Eggshell is deployed.” Thorne blinked harshly as she spoke the word “Eggshell”. Eggshell? Like the Eggs?  
Dramatically, Thorne shot up. A deep memory, one that he knew for a fact wasn’t from his own mind made itself known, molding into his mind. For a moment, he wasn’t even sure what he was even…remembering?...Seeing?...but he was seeing something important. Something was being created in a deep, dark cave. Then it was heading up, and it was happy. She would finally make her friend for life, after having waited for so long to be created…”Hana!” Thorne shrieked, hugging her around the neck, “Her Egg, I saw her Egg!” He was babbling, he knew he was, but how in the skies could he explain remembering his Dragon's birth? “The incubator! It’s in the dens! On the bottom!” Despite the fact he must have sounded mad, Winter eagerly leaned forward, both eyes wide and gleaming with subdued excitement. “What is important about the bottom? Will it assist us with infiltration?” Thorne couldn't help a bubbling laugh that shook his shoulders, “If I’m not crazy, yes! It’s going to help us with…with everything!”  
\--  
As his high energy died down, Thorne started to feel like he was crazy. He had explained his thoughts to Hana the best he could, and she didn’t look confused. Then again, so didn’t Winter, but he could tell she wasn’t trying to think too hard about how possible this all was, lest she lose all her confidence. Hana had just fluttered off her perch and started hobbling off into the forest, directly toward the dens. The forests could hide them, but it was still felt like they’d be spotted if he ever dared look up or shout. What was Hana doing? Did she understand his explanation? He cast another fearful glance upwards, if even one Dragon broke off to look at the forests below…he forcefully focused on the lower eyes of Hana, the ones that would keep him from seeing anything that happened. He'd rather not see a blow coming than to try to run from a hopeless situation.  
Abruptly, Hana halted in front of a normal looking patch of the den's wall. There was no button. No path. No way to break through. There was nothing. “She must have misunderstood, or made a mistake. She may be Dragon, but she is mortal.” Winter spoke, trying to bring Wisk back under the thickest parts of the forest, but finding them insubordinate to her attempts. Come to think of it, Hana wasn’t moving away despite the fear that should have been no doubt pouring into her mind. She just stood there, and waited as Wisk arrived by her side. Then they did something that Thorne wouldn’t have thought Dragons were capable of doing. They prayed. Ok, that may have not been what they were doing, but it certainly looked that way! Hana spear her wings as she pressed the top of her head to the stone wall. Wisk brought up two clean forelegs and pushed their palms in a similar way to Hana to the wall, and lowered their head. Confused, Thorne disconnected from Hana and cast a baffled gaze to look upon Winter, who appeared to be in similar thoughts to him. “What are they doing?” He mouthed to the girl, half afraid of disturbing whatever it was the Dragons were doing and half expecting her resulting reply, “I do not know. This is not behavior consistent with what we know of our Dragons.” Her voice was low, she must have been scared to interrupt as well. Again, Thorne would label it praying if that’s what Dragons did, but Dragons, even Hana, mostly just looked upon them in confusion whenever they asked the skies of something, not participated! What changed?  
Chirp. Chirp! Thorne startled backwards as the unexpected sound emanated from Hana, and then Wisk. It sounded like a sound a bird might make, not a great Dragon. And then he heard it, something was replying to it, chirping back at them. Hana’s mind was a cloud of happiness, and she pushed her head harder into the wall. Their chirping stopped, and something started creaking, opening. The wall was falling backwards, reminding to the Dragon's touch. Quite suddenly, Hana’s mind was apprehensive, and she shuffled uncertainly in the edge of the…cave? The cry of some Dragon above them dispelled these thoughts in a hurry, and she crawled inside. Her talons clicked on the metal floor, and her breath left clouds of white swirling in the air. The moment Wisk entered, the wall slid back into place, as if it had never opened. Thorne shivered in the cool air, it felt clean, despite all the unclean things around it. “Where did you take us, Hana?”  
\--  
Home. She had brought him to home. She was never to return here. Never to show humans this place, where they might destroy the precious life within. But oh, was it wonderful to be back. The clean smell, the smooth floor where she had lay for…days…months…years simply waiting to meet her human, to guide him through the world, and she thought she had done a great job of this, if not for one thing. Her foot tapped an eggshell, an organic eggshell, and it smelled of smoke. She squawked in her draconic way. Og, the old one, the stubborn one. One who had refused the blessings of the machinery, of metal, he had thought he’d be killed, at least mentally if he fell through. How wrong he’d been.  
She had to come back here, no matter what the other Dragons saw her as. An egg waker, an egg smasher at worst. Already, there were the eggs. Her precious brothers and sisters…and sibling Wisk right next to her. The strange one, who resembled an insect more than she ever thought looked a Dragon, she would have never imagined they’d be the most reliable Dragon she had ever met, and let out a low purring sound, cutting off when the quiet Dragon gazed at her in confusion. It was fine, Wisk must have known she was their most trusted compatriot as well. They had both invaded a space that was to never be revisited, and at least had the other to guard their tails. She hoped the hatchlings would understand as well, and let out another high chirp towards the Eggs on the wall. It was a waking that should never be, a Dragon was never to hatch a Dragon, only the chosen human had that honor. But those humans weren’t Tails yet, and they needed assistance now. Their Eggs started to glow ominously, and they wiggled in confusion at the waking sound, responding unconsciously to it with their own chirps.  
Something else creaked to life, tendrils reaching out and scooping up the Eggs, where they vanished to depths unknown. The contraption seemed to recognize the Eggs owner was not above ground, and belched the Eggs out by Hana’s feet, whereupon she twisted her neck and parted her mouth happily at Thorne. She hoped he was amazed, this was a sight that was rarely seen by other Dragons, much less a human! Though she supposed they had a new creature to consider, not human, and she was sitting on Wisk’s back. Hana knew this had never happened before, Og’s presence was the only reason the Sources had gone haywire, attempting to restrain him and fulfilling the duty, to improve him to better protect his human. But this girl had fallen in, become like a Dragon, it was all very new, all completely out of plan. Nothing ever went completely correct, Hana supposed. Her connection to Thorne was only cellular, and Wisk’s was too, anybody sharing Thorne’s blood could connect with her, anything could have happened. The Dragons were only lucky this had succeeded as long as it did, until Og escaped anyhow. Hana clicked her teeth in anger, but regretting what happened could come later, the plan was no longer relevant. Humanity would have to hatch from this nest faster than they had thought, and the hatchlings would fly first.  
An Egg popped out of the contraption, rolling soundlessly on the ground before steam erupted from its cracks and a…sister was born. The Dragon reared up on her hind legs, pressing her arms to her chest and looking around hopefully, before her eyes settled on Hana. Hana was prepared for the resulting scream, it was understandable. All waited in their Eggs to find their best friend for life, and she and Wisk had just robbed the last batch of Eggs that honor. Wisk stomped forward, seemingly intending on her defense, but neither the angry sister nor the defenders moved to attack. Instead, more Eggs rolled out of the contraption and unraveled to screaming and furious Dragons. Hana could feel Thorne’s confusion, deeper and more true than the fear that was starting to cloud his mind, and helpfully jolted him with her nose before pointing with her snout towards the contraption, which still worked diligently despite its age. It bloomed upwards like a flower, made out of various metals and constantly pumping the metals to improve her fellow Dragons. While they were under the influence of Og's smoke, Hana had heard them referring to it as a Source, and treated it as something to destroy. But it was alright now, because the Incubator was safe, and the words etched into it, while faded, were legible to his human eyes, and should have filled in any gaps she couldn’t convey to him.  
To Have Humanity Soar To The Skies  
\--  
Thorne blinked unbelievingly up at the Incubator, no, it was a Source, wasn’t it? It had to be, because if it was an Incubator, then they just damned Dragons to be hatched clean…no, organic, and they’d never have the same abilities as Hana or Wisk. They’d be just like Og, a Smoke-breather who made other Dragons like them out of fear and hate. They destroyed the Incubators, on Leo’s orders. Quietly, he stared at the wording above him and started to flinch inwardly. He was so stupid. Og was clearly organic, and Leo even said he hatched clean! Even if he was smoke-addled, he should have been able to think enough to realize something was desperately wrong! Another Egg fell into the world, and raised another angry scream, but Thorne was barely reacting, instead it seemed he was silently beating himself up over his own stupidity, not what was happening right at this moment. At least until something smacked him over the back of his head, hard and cold, drawing out an “Ouch!”, almost humorously high, and making him look over at the attacker. A metallic hand was drawn back, highlighting the stern face of Winter, “Stop pitying yourself.” She snapped, and pointed at the masses of hatchlings before them, “This is happening now. Figure this out now.” He blinked disbelievingly at her, and she shrunk back slightly, “Apologies, I did not mean to hit you with this hand, but I meant my words.” Snapped out of his own wallowing, Thorne rubbed the back of his head and looked, really looked at the small army of hatchlings glaring up at them. Wait, army?  
“W-Winter. W-we aren’t thinking the same thing, are we?” No, there was no way that they were going to do this. “I believe we are, very frightening prospect, but they look capable. We have to save May and Patches, correct? What better way than to have an army?” At these words, the hatchlings faces whipped towards them, and Thorne gulped at the sheer fury that started to cloud their eyes. Oh great, what could they even be mad about!? He leaned over Hana’s head, and flinched as the gang of hatchlings hissed at his face. He particularly didn’t like one Dragon that seemed to make a point to show its double row of teeth when it’s mouth cranes open. “Um, ah. H-hi there. I’m Thorne and…and this is Hana-“ A loud mass of hissing filled the air at these words and, terrifyingly enough, some started to crawl toward Hana with a threatening intent filling the air.  
Suddenly, Wisk moved. The hatchlings skittered away from the much larger Dragon, eyes wide and gleaming with a subdued rebelliousness. This started to fade as Wisk let out a long series of chirps and stomped toward them in a way that Thorne would have thought was threatening, if not for the fact that the hatchlings made no attempt to get out of their way. Instead, they responded in a similar manner to Wisk’s…talking, and spat out each of their squawks and squeaks in the most venomous way possible. Hana hissed horribly at one batch of grumbling, raising her wings and snapping her snout at the writing on the walls. She stomped her feet, shrieked, and almost looked as if at any moment she would cry, and then Thorne exploded.  
“Guys? Guys!” He yelled over the noise that seemed like it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, in fact seemed to be getting louder by the moment. Hana ceased her squawking, turning her head until it was nearly upside down to gaze at her suddenly loud human. The group of hatchlings that she had been arguing with mirrored her confusion, tilting their heads to the side until Thorne was suddenly aware that every eye in the room was fixated on him. Winter twitched her hands in a reassuring gesture, like a Dragon flapping its wings outwards, and Thorne’s words found the courage to speak to this irate group of hatchlings. “A-again, I am Thorne.” This time nobody interrupted his introduction this time around, silent and rather curious, “I have no idea what’s going on, I don’t even know how angry you are.” Some growls at that, but he pushed on before they could raise another protest, “But! But that’s your Incubator, right? And there are words there that I don’t understand, Dragons have always just been a part of our lives, I didn’t know that you were made for us humans.” Now they started to crumble in their anger, and Hana brought her snout up in an affectionate push, “I-I'm really sorry I woke you guys up, that’s the reason you’re angry, isn’t it?” A snap of the jaws confirmed his theory, and a few of the hatchlings contorted their faces in the most horrible way possible, gazing spitefully at the shelves where their Eggs had laid, ready to be hatched by a human. “I’m not gonna hatch another Dragon like this again.” Thorne grunted as he heaved himself off of Hana’s back and approached the group to Hana’s clear panic as she chattered and growled when the group raised their heads to look upon him, some raising their claws so that Thorne gasped and flinched, afraid of a blow, yet he didn’t stop talking, “I don’t want to ask more of you but…there’s this Dragon Og, a Smoke-breather and-and he’s destroying your…Incubators. I…helped him destroy one…I want to stop him.”  
Hana joined into his words, and if he didn’t know any better, he would say she was translating him. The hatchlings struggled to keep the rage on their faces up until Hana roared, a dominant sound that clearly shook them, before they all looked up at the writing on the wall.. It shook Thorne too, and his legs buckled before he caught himself on Hana’s head, who had moved ahead to support him. The moment he got his footing, he lowered himself to the hatchling's level, “So I have to ask you to help me, he got my friends, and I can’t do anything with an injured Dragon and a dumb Lizard of myself. Please.”  
Some kind of ripple echoed through the hatchlings, murmuring among each other before the ripple headed back, and the hatchlings took on a battle stance. Despite their sizes, the sheer number of little Dragons was certainly intimidating. “We have our army, a true flight.” Thorne whispered, grimace taking over his face, “Guess only the skies can help us.”


End file.
